


The Water's Sweet (But Blood is Thicker)

by eternal_song



Series: You're My Brother Half [1]
Category: Dororo (Anime), Dororo (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Canon Trans Character, Families of Choice, Gen, Trans Male Character, basically if Dororo met Scooby Doo I guess, minor Transphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 15:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternal_song/pseuds/eternal_song
Summary: Hyakkimaru didn't expect to find himself so deep in a missing persons case when he rescued a street kid from an alley, but there are foul creatures in this city and Dororo may be the key to finding and killing a particularly insidious monster.





	The Water's Sweet (But Blood is Thicker)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Avicii's ["Hey Brother"](https://youtu.be/IC9HiG5Z-Sg) and the phrase "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," meaning that the family that you choose can be more important than the one you got at birth
> 
> This was supposed to be a small one-shot to go with a drawing I was doing and it turned into this. It mostly works off of the manga canon and characterizations, but draws plenty of inspiration from the other adaptations as well.
> 
> A huge thanks to all my friends on the Dororo discord server, especially [Psycada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Psycada/), [Verse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verse), and [FetusCakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fetuscakes), who let me bounce ideas off of them, and to [Dreamillusions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamillusions/), for lurking on Google Docs and writing encouraging notes for me.
> 
> CONTENT WARNING: There are two small sections where the antagonists misgender Dororo. It's brief, but upsetting for him. If you need to skip them, see the end notes. If you need to not read this to preserve your mental health, I won't be offended.

Hyakkimaru exited the bright café into the twilight and unfolded his cane. Although his new artificial eyes were better than his previous pair, and he appreciated the addition of color perception, they were still nearly useless in low lighting. The neon lights glared at the edges of his perception, worsening the blurring shadows of the sidewalk. The path between this café and home was one he had long since memorized, though, and the cane served more to keep other people from getting in his path than to guide him through it. As he walked, he saw their flickering soul flames, all white and unthreatening, parting around him. He shut his eyes so the waning sunlight and neon couldn’t distract him and instead let his inner eye guide him.

Now focused on his spirit sight, he noticed an aura to the west which was out of place from the humans around him. It felt slimy and cold against his. He sighed. It had been good night so far, but he couldn’t use a good mood as an excuse to ignore a monster. He altered his course and meandered through the streets as he sought the source of the aura. As he grew closer, he could make out the red flickers of its soul flame, smoldering like an ember. A demon, or possibly a lesser monster.

His search brought him to the entrance of an alley. From within came an obnoxious and violent commotion. Opening his eyes did nothing to let him see what was in the darkened area, but he sensed three large soul flames clustered around a smaller one. It sounded like they were fighting with each other, not the foul presence deeper within. He doubted they knew it was there. Hyakkimaru sighed again, folded up his cane, and set it down against the wall at the entrance. He would come back for it. Prepared now for a fight, he stuck his hands into the pockets of his unzipped hoodie and strode towards the group.

“Now you see what happens if you mess with us, kid?” One of them shouted, panting. They all backed away from the smaller person, who laid motionless on the ground. Hyakkimaru thought they would stay down, but they made a jerking motion which resulted in the unmistakable sound of an aluminum can striking a forehead. The first voice shouted in pain and rage, demanding the others grab the smaller figure. “Tie him up, and throw him in the dumpster! Close the lid!”

Hyakkimaru weighed his options and figured he may as well intervene now and get these fools out of the way before he had to fight the monster further in.

“Why not just leave him on the ground?” he asked. The group startled, paused their frantic movements, and focused all of their attention on him. The previous speaker, clearly the leader, spat at Hyakkimaru’s feet.

“None of your business, kid. Get out of here before we beat you up too.”

Hyakkimaru raised an eyebrow.

“Look, this ain’t a kid, he’s a ditch rat. He’s a thief,” a different voice said.

“So why not take him to the police?”

“Because he'll  keep coming back!” yet another man exclaimed. “What’s it to you, anyway?”

Hyakkimaru held out his arms as casual a gesture as he could.

“He’s a kid, I’m a kid,” he said. “We’ve gotta look out for each other.”

Before anyone could respond, there was a low and menacing growl from the end of the alley. Hyakkimaru cursed; he shouldn’t have gotten distracted. The low red glow of the monster’s soul flame had grown stronger. The group must have woken it and drawn it closer.

“Get out of here,” he warned, voice containing none of its earlier nonchalance. “There’s something here.”

The leader laughed at him and moved in the direction of the growling.

“Oh, please!” There was a rustling of trash bags. “It’s probably a stray dog, hiding in these piles of—  _ Woah! _ ”

There was a cry of alarm as the red glow enveloped the white, consuming him before he had a chance to fight back. Hyakkimaru let out a small  _ tch _ of frustration as the others began screaming— all except for the smallest soul flame, still laying on the pavement. He shed and tossed his jacket aside, grasped his right forearm in his left hand, and pulled the prosthesis off to reveal the honed blade beneath. He sprang towards the monster as the others rushed by him. The red glow reached out towards the small body, but he slashed at it before it could grab ahold. 

“Get out of here!” he shouted as he put his sword between the monster and the last remaining human in the alley. “Get onto the main street, it’s too dangerous to stay!”

He heard a whimper as the boy struggled to get up and away from the fight, and Hyakkimaru spared him no more attention as he began to slash at the monster. From the sounds of squelching and the feeling of plastic tearing under his blade, he discovered it actually was made of garbage. He spared a thought to be grateful for his missing sense of smell, because from the way people described it he was sure the odor would distract him.

The monster, for all it was an amorphous blob, was swift. Hyakkimaru needed both swords for this fight. Grabbing his left arm in his teeth, he freed the blade before tossing both prostheses aside. He made short work of the monster once the second blade sunk in next to the first. Several rapid stabs to the monster’s core caused it to shudder and fall apart in an avalanche of garbage around him. He stood still, panting and surveying the refuse for any signs of life. Nothing. It was back to being another slimy, disgusting pile of waste. He grimaced as he felt something slide out of his hair.

“That was incredible!”

Hyakkimaru jolted at the shout behind him. He whirled to face the little white soul flame of the boy he had rescued.

“Why did you stay?” He demanded, heading in the direction he thought he'd tossed his arms. “I told you to leave.”

“I wanted to see what would happen. I've never seen anyone with a sword in their arm before. Oh, here's your hands, by the way.”

Before Hyakkimaru could protest, the boy grabbed his left elbow and slid the prosthesis on over the sword. Hyakkimaru flexed his fingers and grimaced at the squelch. He would have to clean out the monster residue later.

“Thank you.” His voice was curt as he held out his hand for the other prosthesis. Instead of handing it over, however, the boy slid it on over his right sword.

“Oh, and I think this might be yours too?” The the boy's soul flame flickered in a shrug before he set a piece of fabric into Hyakkimaru's still outstretched hand. It was his hoodie, which he gratefully slid on after brushing the last of the garbage from his torso.

His cane was still where he left it at the entrance to the alley. It unfolded and snapped together smoothly, and he set off down the street again. He had taken a bit of a detour to find the monster, but he wasn't too out of his way, and the neighborhood was still familiar enough. He had barely made it half a block before he heard the pounding of footsteps behind him.

“Hey, wait up!” The little boy called behind him. Hyakkimaru did not wait up, but he caught up easily. “I've never seen anything like that! What the hell was that thing? It looked like any old pile of garbage.”

Hyakkimaru considered ignoring the kid but, considering he’d stayed to watch a teenager battle a trash monster, he seemed the type who would persist in his questioning if he didn’t get an answer.

“Malevolent spirits can take lots of shapes,” he said. “It could have been a lost soul, or a monster, or a demon.”

“Wow! And you fight them with those swords in your arms?”

Hyakkimaru nodded, stopping to wait at a crosswalk.

“So cool! Where did you get them? Can I get a sword?”

“Shouldn't you be getting home? It's late.” The words came out sharper than he intended them to, and the boy stiffened.

“I’m a master thief,” he declared, indignant. “I don't have a curfew.”

It wasn't too hard to put all of the pieces together into a picture of a young runaway, seeking the attention of a rare person who hasn't tried to hurt him. Hyakkimaru blew out a breath which ruffled his bangs and decided his dad would be far more disappointed in him for leaving a kid on the streets than for bringing home a potential thief. Besides, he'd already finished all of his homework for the weekend, so he had nothing better to do. He heard the flow of traffic change direction and crossed the street. The boy still followed him, though his steps were hesitant now.

“You're hurt, right?” Hyakkimaru asked, gentling his tone. “My dad is a doctor. He's on the night shift in the ER this week, but I know some first aid. I can patch you up at my house.”

The boy didn’t respond, weighing his options. When he spoke, his voice contained all of his earlier bravado.

“Okay, I guess that's fine. I'm Dororo, by the way. What's your name, sword-arm-san?”

Hyakkimaru felt a smile twitch at his mouth.

“Hyakkimaru.”

 

* * *

 

Entering the house was like entering another world. As soon as Hyakkimaru flicked on the light switch his vision went from vague shadows to defined shapes and colors and his shoulders sagged in relief. He hung his cane and jacket on the rack by the door and toed off his boots. Dororo did the same with his ragged sneakers and stood in the genkan as if unsure of what to do next.

“Go sit on the edge of the tub, and I'll get the first aid kit.” He gestured in the direction of the bathroom, following when the kid scrambled to beat him there. As he did, he pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to his dad.

To: Dad

7:44 pm

_ I picked up a stray. I will try to find a home for him tomorrow. I'll do my best to bathe him but I can't guarantee he won't still smell when you get home. _

As he retrieved the large first aid kit from where they kept it under the bathroom sink, he discreetly studied the child he'd brought home. Messy black hair in a short ponytail, hole-filled socks, ratty denim shorts, and a too-small black tee shirt which hung off of a skinny chest. He was most likely between eight and ten, but he could be older and small from malnourishment. The kid had smudges of dirt darkening the patches of skin not touched by bruises or cuts. Hyakkimaru hoped none needed stitches. His current set of hands had wonderful fine motor control, but he still hadn't built up the skill his dad had at the task.

He set the kit onto the counter, pulled out several alcohol wipes, and knelt down to Dororo's eye level. There was a dark ring blooming around one of his deep brown eyes.

“This may sting,” he warned before he dabbed at the scrapes and cuts on the boy's face. Dororo hissed a little at the touch, but to his credit, he didn't flinch away. After all of the damage to his face had been addressed, Hyakkimaru directed him to take off his shirt. When Dororo froze, he explained he needed to check for broken ribs.

“My ribs are fine,” Dororo pouted, crossing his arms. 

“Perhaps, but sometimes you don't know until later, when it gets worse.” Hyakkimaru held up both hands and wiggled his fingers. “Come on, these are sensitive. I'll be gentle. I won't even tickle you.”

Dororo eyed his hands with trepidation before he gave in to his obvious curiosity and reached out to pull one of them closer.

“These are so cool! How do they work?”

Hyakkimaru gave him a sardonic half smile.

“I'm not entirely sure. You'd have to ask my dad, he's the one who made them. All I know is they're osseointegrated, meaning they're connected to the bone near my shoulder, and they connect to my nerves somehow.” He wiggled his fingers again. “Same with my legs.”

“Wow! Did your dad put swords in them too?” 

“No, no swords in my legs.”

“That’s lame. I would have put one in each.” Dororo studied his face. “Earlier you were using a cane, but now it seems like you can see fine. Also, your eyes look weird. Also also, what are those things on the sides of your head?”

For some reason, Hyakkimaru didn't find all of these questions as irritating and invasive as he would have had they come from anyone else.

“My eyes are also artificial. Dad's still working on them, because I can't see well with them when it gets dark out. And these,” he tapped an ear with his free hand, “are cochlear implants. I'm deaf without them.”

Dororo's face was slack with undisguised shock. After letting him absorb the information, Hyakkimaru gestured once again for him to take off his shirt. This time, he did so with only a small amount of grumbling. Luckily there was no damage to the boy's ribs; only a smattering of bruises and a scrape on his left hip. Both of the boy's knees were skinned, so Hyakkimaru went ahead and cleaned those out as well. When he’d finished, he sat back and gave him a once over.

“Okay, I'm not gonna put any bandages on until after you've bathed. You draw a bath, and I'll see about making some food.”

“What?” Dororo’s face morphed from calm to offended. “A bath? No way! I don't need one!”

Hyakkimaru raised an eyebrow at him.

“Dororo, you are covered in filth. Besides, your clothes need washed. You are not eating at my dad's nice table if you're going to get it all grimy.”

Dororo seemed mollified at the mention of food, but he still pouted.

“You're still covered in gross stuff too, you know,” he pointed out. Hyakkimaru hummed in agreement.

“Yes, and I'll bathe after you do, but first I need to put all these dirty clothes in the wash and make food. Bath. Now.”

Dororo grumbled a little more, but stood from the side of the tub and reached out to twist the faucet.

“Okay, fine, but you have to get out. No peeking.”

“Why would I want to?”

Dororo smirked at him.

“I dunno, you could be a creepy old man.”

“I'm fourteen, you brat.” Hyakkimaru scowled at the kid. “Put your clothes outside the door and I'll pick them up. I'm gonna see if I can find any of my old stuff that'll fit you.”

He didn't manage to find any of his old clothing from when he was Dororo's size, but he did locate a pair of shorts with a drawstring and a tee shirt which was verging on too small, so he folded them into a pile and placed them outside the bathroom door, shouting to let Dororo know they were there. He placed both his and Dororo's dirty clothing in the washing machine, changed into some pajama pants, and flicked on the rice cooker. He could admit he wasn't much of a cook, and in fact had little enough of a sense of taste that he didn't have much motivation to learn, but rice and leftovers were simple enough that even he couldn't screw it up. He used the sink and a dish towel to wipe off the worst of the grime, which would have to do until his guest vacated the bathroom.

Dororo exited the bathroom twenty minutes later, hair dripping around his shoulders. He practically swam in Hyakkimaru's clothes, and the older boy had to stifle a laugh. Dororo lit up at the sight of the food on the table. Without so much as a “thank you,” he dove in and began shoveling rice into his mouth. Hyakkimaru picked up his own chopsticks and tried not to watch.

“So what's that scar on your chest from?” Dororo asked after a few minutes, not bothering to swallow his mouthful. “Did one of those monsters get you?

Hyakkimaru glanced down at the scar running up his sternum and shook his head.

“No, just heart surgery. I had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. There's a series of three surgeries they do to fix it.”

Dororo carefully set down his chopsticks and leveled him with an incredulous stare.

“What,” he whispered, “the  _ fuck. _ ”

“Should you be using that sort of language?” Hyakkimaru returned the stare with a deadpan look of his own. “You're like eight.”

“I'm nine and a half!” Dororo shouted. “And that's not the point. How are you alive?”

Hyakkimaru held out his hands to indicate that he didn't know.

“Dad found me as a baby at the entrance to the ER at the hospital where he works. Whoever left me there clearly didn't want infanticide on their conscience, but they didn't want me either.” He laughed humorlessly and sent a wry smile in Dororo's direction. “I suspect if my birth parents are the sort to do that, I'm better off without them.”

Dororo nodded, noticably paler than he'd been previously. He ate a few more bites before he pointed his chopsticks at Hyakkimaru.

“Well, now you're a super cool, demon slaying cyborg, so you sure showed them, huh?”

Hyakkimaru laughed, genuine about it this time.

 

* * *

 

Hyakkimaru bathed quickly after eating and putting a multitude of bandages on Dororo's scrapes, because he wasn't dumb enough to let him have free reign of the house for too long. Even if he was holding the boy's clothing hostage for laundering, thatv didn't mean he wouldn't make off into the night with something valuable. The sight which greeted him upon returning to the living area, however, was of Dororo fast asleep on the couch and some cartoon playing on the television on the background. Hyakkimaru smiled a little.

Gently, he sat down next to the boy and draped a blanket over him, running a hand through the tangle of black hair on his head. Dororo sighed and snuggled closer, seeking the warmth. This somehow ended with Dororo's head on Hyakkimaru's lap and a small hand clenched in the fabric of his pajama shirt. Accepting his fate, he used the remote to switch the TV to some sort of nature documentary and settled in.

After watching a few scenes of penguins court each other with rocks, he noticed Dororo mumbling something. He muted the television, wondering if the boy was waking up. However, it seemed he was talking in his sleep.

“Mama…” he whimpered. “Mama… don't die… please…”

Hyakkimaru swallowed and turned the volume back up on the television, feeling bad for intruding on something so private. He resumed his stroking of Dororo's hair, and eventually the boy settled into a calmer sleep.

He hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until he felt the large hand shaking his shoulder. He blinked open his eyes to find his head lolled back against the back of the couch and he was staring at his dad's upside-down face. He yawned.

“What time is it?” He asked, stretching as much as he could without dislodging the sleeping child on his lap. He couldn't imagine his hard legs were comfortable, but Dororo didn't appear to have moved at all.

“After four,” Jukai said. “You know, when I read your text, I expected another lost puppy or something. Not a child.”

Hyakkimaru's cheeks flushed in embarrassment under his dad's incredulous stare.

“I went looking for a monster and found it in an alley. But there were also some thugs there, beating this kid up. They woke the monster and I managed to get him out of danger and kill it, but he kind of followed me home.”

Jukai's eyebrow climbed further up his forehead.

“I… I thought it would be a good idea to patch up his scrapes and bruises? I was going to talk to Mio later today, see if her folks had any room to take him in.”

“Yes, and I'm sure that's the only reason you want to talk with her, isn't it?” Jukai's smile was sly, and he reached out to ruffle his son's hair. Hyakkimaru felt his blush deepen. He batted the hand away from his hair. The large man laughed softly, still mindful of the sleeping child on the couch. “But have you considered, perhaps, putting him in the guest bedroom?”

Hyakkimaru scowled a little at the teasing, but his dad had a point. Comfy though the couch was, a bed would be better. He gathered Dororo into his arms as carefully as he could and brought him into the guest bedroom. The boy looked so small bundled up under the covers of a double bed, but he sighed in contentment and burrowed deeper. The little white flame of his soul burned brightly. Hyakkimaru patted him on the head one last time before he left for his own bedroom.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, someone once again jostled Hyakkimaru from sleep with a hand shaking his shoulder. This hand was far smaller than his dad’s, however, and when he blinked his eyes open he stared into Dororo’s very,  _ very _ close face. He jerked back with a startled cry, nearly falling off the other side of the bed. Dororo’s lips moved to form an apology, but he honestly didn’t look the least bit sorry, and he launched into a tirade of words too quick for Hyakkimaru to lip read. He was excited about something. Hyakkimaru held up a hand to get him to stop.

“Hang on, hang on,” he said, hoping the words weren’t slurred, “I can’t hear you yet.”

Dororo stopped talking and watched him in fascination as he grabbed the external auditory processors off of his nightstand and placed them on his head, securing the magnets and ear grips with practiced movements. He eyed the little intruder, who was still wearing Hyakkimaru’s old clothes from the night before.

“Dororo, why are you in my room?”

The boy lit up again and grabbed his hand.

“I made you breakfast!” he said, tugging a little, but not hard enough to pull his forearm off and reveal the blade beneath. “But I can’t reach the dishes, so you’re going to have to set the table.”

Hyakkimaru could only imagine what sort of state the kitchen was in, and he hoped whatever commotion Dororo may have made hadn’t woken his dad.

“All right, I’m coming.” He disentangled his legs from the covers and allowed the boy to pull him into the kitchen. To his surprise, there was little mess beyond some spilled flour on the floor and a nearly empty bowl of batter in the sink. There was a stool pulled up in front of the stove and a pile of pancakes— only slightly burnt— sitting on a dish towel to the side.

“Huh,” Hyakkimaru said. “I didn’t know we had pancake mix.”

He set the table and distributed the pancakes between them, leaving part of the stack for when his dad woke up later. Dororo’s table manners were as appalling as they had been the night before, so Hyakkimaru concentrated on his own food and ignored him. The pancakes were a bit crunchy and charred in places, and still gooey in others, but he appreciated the sentiment behind them. 

“So? Are they good?” Hyakkimaru glanced up to find Dororo’s eager gaze fixed on him. He swallowed and nodded. This seemed to satisfy Dororo, who moved on to a different topic of conversation. “Hey, do you ever use your swords to cut your food?” 

“Um… no?” Hyakkimaru glanced down at the hand currently holding a table knife. “That… seems like overkill.”

“Oh please,” Dororo scoffed, waving a hand in the air. “You know what they say about that.”

“No, what do they say?”

“‘There’s no kill like overkill!’” Dororo pointed at Hyakkimaru’s arm. “If I had a sword, I’d use it for everything, whether it’s practical or not, because then people would know not to mess with me. Because I’d have a sword.”

Somehow, this little insight into Dororo’s thought process went a long way towards explaining things.

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea to get my food near a blade I kill monsters with.” Though he cleaned them after each use, there was still something inherently disgusting about the idea. Dororo clearly thought so as well, because his face screwed up in revulsion. He made several exaggerated gagging noises. Hyakkimaru hoped he wouldn’t make himself puke by doing so.

“Are you going to go kill more monsters today?” the boy asked after finishing his breakfast. He leaned back happily, hands clasped on his belly and eyes half-lidded.

“I don’t seek them out. I kill them as I find them.” Hyakkimaru thought about how many times he’d had to detour from an errand to track down the source of a foul aura he’d sensed. “I do need to meet up with a friend, though. Do you want to come and meet her?”

“Wow, taking me to meet your girlfriend already? You must really like me, aniki!”

Dororo’s tone was still confident, but there was an undercurrent of insecurity there. Hyakkimaru wondered how long it had been since anyone had praised the kid or shown him any form of human affection. He was out of his depth here, but he didn't want to contribute to that neglect.

“You've grown on me.” He shrugged. “And if nothing else, you'd probably be useful as monster bait, to distract them while I go in for the kill.”

Dororo stuck his tongue out at him, but the doubt in his eyes faded away and his soul flame stopped its anxious flickering.

“Also, she's not my girlfriend. She's a friend, who happens to be a girl.”

The boy gave him a significant look, which he elected to ignore.

 

* * *

 

Hyakkimaru held Dororo's freshly laundered clothes and debated tossing them. They were threadbare, torn, and stained, but he didn't have anything else for the boy to wear. He couldn't keep wearing Hyakkimaru's drawstring shorts and shrunken tees, after all.

He ended up giving the clothing back and stepping into his room to call Mio.

_ “Hello, Hyakkimaru!” _ She greeted, radiating cheer through the tinny speaker. Hyakkimaru did his best to tamp down on the dopey smile he felt trying to creep onto his face.

“Hello, Mio. Are you free to meet today? I need your advice about something.”

Well, someone. A someone whom he was sure was eavesdropping on this conversation from the other side of the door.

_ “Oh, yes, I have some time before work this evening. What do you need advice on?” _

“Nothing bad, but it's hard to explain over the phone. Where should we meet?”

There was a short pause and the muffled sound of Mio calling out to someone as she covered the phone.

_ “Would you mind coming over? I’m in charge of watching the kids this morning.” _ Mio sounded apologetic, as if Hyakkimaru could possibly have any objections to helping her watch her foster siblings. He agreed and they hung up after a few more pleasantries. When he opened the bedroom door, he was unsurprised to find Dororo leaning against the doorframe, unashamed about listening in.

“Come on, you little brat.” Hyakkimaru reached out and ruffled his hair before he could dodge. “Mio invited us over to her house, so try not to scare her too much with your personality.”

“Excuse you, I’m too cute to scare anyone off.” Dororo jabbed his thumb at his chest. “It comes in handy when I’m making off with their valuables.”

“Remind me to search your pockets later, oh master thief.”

“Pff, as if I’d let you catch me, aniki.”

Hyakkimaru smiled a little, but hid it by heading for the front door. He placed his folded cane into the inner pocket he’d stitched into his jacket, shrugged it on, and grabbed his keys. Dororo followed him out the door and they set off in the direction of Mio’s house.

Mio’s family fostered a number of children with disabilities who couldn’t get the care they needed from the local group care facility. Hyakkimaru had met her through his father, who often helped supply the children with prostheses. He would never admit it out loud, but he had fallen in love with her as soon as he had set his artificial eyes on her at the tender age of twelve. She had been fourteen at the time, and how she had put up with Hyakkimaru’s preteen angst was beyond him. She was the kindest person he’d ever met.

He hoped she could help him figure out what to do about Dororo. He couldn’t turn the boy back out onto the streets, but if he’d run away from wherever he’d been before, there was likely a reason for it. Mio had more experience with children who had come from bad situations. Dororo was undoubtedly one of them, with the wounds and scars Hyakkimaru had seen on his arms and torso yesterday.

It was a fifteen minute walk to Mio's house, and the day was bright and sunny. Dororo fairly vibrated with excitement and excess energy. Mio greeted them at the door with a fond smile before they'd had a chance to knock and ushered them in.

“Hello, I'm Mio. It's nice to meet you,” She greeted Dororo as they toed off their shoes. Dororo looked her up and down, assessing, before he gave her a cheeky grin. 

“I'm Dororo!”

Mio smiled back at him before directing her smile onto Hyakkimaru. He prayed his face would cooperate and not blush. She reached up and brushed a lock of soft black hair from her face.

“Let's talk in the kitchen. I'll make tea.” She craned her head towards the top of the staircase. “Kids, Hyakkimaru is here, and he brought a friend! Come say hello!”

There was a loud clatter and joyous shouting as four young children scrambled out of various rooms and down the stairs.

“Hyakki-nii is here!” One of them cried out, leaping off of the third stair from the bottom, making Hyakkimaru lunge forward to catch him.

“Hey, Takebo. How's it going?” he placed the seven-year-old on his hip. “How's your new arm treating you?”

Takebo held up his left arm, the prosthetic forearm still shiny and new.

“It's great! Look what I can do!”

“Takebo! Where did you learn that gesture?” Mio's tone was torn between amusement and affront. Dororo laughed, drawing the attention of all of the kids. They began loudly introducing themselves over one another, scrambling to get his attention. Takebo squirmed for Hyakkimaru to put him down.

The children dragged Dororo off to play some make believe game with them, leaving Mio and Hyakkimaru alone by the staircase. There was a slight bewildered pause. Mio rallied first, once again heading for the kitchen.

“Please, come sit down.” She gestured to the low table as she filled the kettle and set it to boil. “What did you need to talk about?”

Hyakkimaru sat cross-legged and stared at his clasped hands.

“You probably already guessed it's about Dororo.” There was no point in prevaricating. “I found him getting beat up by a group of men yesterday and saved him from both them and a monster. After I killed the monster, I took him home and patched him up.”

Mio set the teapot and two cups on the table and sat down next to him.

“And you need to know how to help him, now you can’t swing a sword at the problem?”

Hyakkimaru nodded. Mio’s teasing smile turned thoughtful as she busied her hands with pouring the tea.

“We don’t have room here. I’m sorry.” She genuinely did look apologetic. “We recently got Akari-chan settled into her new home, and Mom got a call from the social worker yesterday about a boy from a group home in Tokyo who needs more one-on-one care than they can offer, so they’re hoping we can take him.”

Hyakkimaru placed his hand over hers and tried to give her the best reassurance he knew how.

“I know you’re doing your best, Mio. You care, a lot, and that’s why I wanted your help.” he chewed his lip. Mio blushed a little at his reassurances, and he rushed to continue before he lost his composure. “I was thinking about it, and there’s no way a kid would be out on the street like he was unless it was better than wherever he came from. But if I let him go back out alone, who knows what could happen. He could get beat up again, but this time he might get hurt too badly to recover.”

He took a long drag of the wonderfully hot tea, thinking about the state Dororo had been in yesterday, how easy it would have been for those men to have broken his ribs and possibly punctured a lung.

“He also has this idea that he’s a master thief, which is pretty cute. He’s grown on me.”

“Do you think he was in an abusive home before? Or the care facility in town?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think he has parents, if what I heard of his sleep mumblings were any indication.”

Mio got the same look on her face she always did when there was a tragedy and she had no way of helping the victims. Hyakkimaru loved how compassionate she was, how much she wanted those around her to be happy, but he sometimes wondered if she let it come at the cost of her own happiness. He wondered if she knew he was willing to help support her the same way she did her foster siblings, if she wished it of him.

“Listen, Hyakkimaru…” she lowered her voice a little and leaned in closer. “I’ve heard rumors lately. About the foster care facility. If Dororo lived there, it may explain why he ran away.”

“What kinds of rumors?” Hyakkimaru didn’t like the edge of actual fear which had crept into her voice.

“I… I overheard the social worker talking with mom on his last visit. He said kids have been disappearing from the facility for a couple of months now, and the police haven’t been found any trace of them.” Her shoulders drew in as she spoke. “It hasn’t reached the news media because children run away from foster care all the time, but… usually, they’re found, or they return on their own. This time, there’s nothing.”

“How many children?” Hyakkimaru asked, keeping his voice as level as he could. Mio squeezed her eyes shut.

“Twelve, last I heard.”

Hyakkimaru’s blood ran cold. That was far too many in so short a times span to be anything but foul play.

The conversation quickly and forcefully moved on to other topics. Hyakkimaru told Mio about some of the demons he had recently fought, including the full story of yesterday’s garbage demon. This segued into the tale of how Dororo had followed him home, eaten his food, and slept in his lap.

“Well, it sounds like you’re already close,” Mio said. “I know you like to think of yourself as a tough guy, but you are good with the children.”

“I can be both,” Hyakkimaru pouted at her. She covered her mouth and giggled, and he had to fight hard not to let his expression grow mushy. “He’s a good kid. He watched me pull off my arms and fight a monster, and he wasn’t afraid of me. That’s not the reaction I usually get.”

“I wasn’t afraid of you either,” she pointed out, placing a delicate hand over his forearm. “You do have people who love you.”

He covered her hand with his free one and decided to change the subject before he said something embarrassing.

“How is work going?” he asked, instead of letting himself declare his undying love for her on the spot. Her smile became more resigned, but she didn’t move her hand.

“It’s going all right. It’s mostly been businessmen who meet up to finalize their deals while surrounded by pretty girls, but we get the occasional younger guy.” Her face shuttered a little as she continued. “My boss has been pressuring me to get requested to sit with some of our regulars, but to get requested…”

She pulled her hand away and folded both in her lap, toying with the hem of her loose red top. Hyakkimaru didn’t know much about what went in to working as a hostess— especially as one who had lied about her age to get the job— but he could guess what she might be expected to do to get that sort of special attention.

“You know I would never think any less of you, don’t you?” he asked. She hesitantly met his eyes again. “Mio, you’re doing this so these kids can have the kind of opportunity for a better life that you and I got, and I think it’s incredible. I’m only worried about you getting hurt. I want you to be happy.”

Mio blushed a deep red and looked away. They were silent as they finished their tea, though that all came to an end when a loud slapping of feet against the wood flooring alerted them to Dororo’s rapid entrance.

“Aniki, the kids wanted to know if you would tell them a story about— am I interrupting something?” His eyes darted between the two of them, a knowing smile spreading across his face. “Cause, ya know, I can go back and distract them.”

“Just the peace and quiet,” Hyakkimaru griped, but there was no heat to his words. He set down his empty tea cup and stood. Extending a hand to Mio, he pulled her to her feet and followed Dororo out of the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

Dororo managed to hold off from teasing Hyakkimaru for a remarkably long time during the walk back from Mio’s— nearly five minutes, all told.

“So are you ever gonna grow the balls to tell her?”

Hyakkimaru nearly tripped.

“You are a vulgar and inappropriate child, did you know that?”

Dororo flipped a hand lazily to show what he thought of Hyakkimaru's assessment.

“Don't avoid the question. You  _ like her _ !” he drew out the last two words into an obnoxious sing-song voice. Hyakkimaru groaned.

“Yeah, of course I do. Does it matter?”

“Of  _ course  _ it matters. How will she know if you don't tell her?”

“How much of our conversation did you eavesdrop on?”

“Oh, you know. All of it. Or at least as much as I could hear over the kids.” Dororo's expression sobered and he gave Hyakkimaru a wary glance. “I'm not going back. Even if you try, I'll run away again. I can take care of myself.”

“I know.” Hyakkimaru didn't bother to elaborate on which part he was replying to. “But, Dororo, being a runaway and a thief can only get you so far. Don't you want more out of life?”

Dororo stopped walking and glared and the older boy. Hyakkimaru stopped a few places further, looking back and waiting for a response. Small fists clenched.

“You don't get it, do you?” Dororo's words sounded almost like a whine, though Hyakkimaru didn't doubt he was serious. “There is no 'more’ for people like me. Families don't want me because I'm too much trouble. I still have over ten years until I age out of the system, and after that, what options do I have?”

Hyakkimaru said nothing and waited as Dororo gathered his thoughts.

“You got lucky. You got found by someone who loves you, and babies get adopted quickly anyway. But I was already old enough to have  _ opinions _ when Mama and Papa died, and adoptive parents don't like that.” Dororo clenched his jaw. “And if I had stayed, Mio is right. Kids have been disappearing. Kids who never would have run away on their own. So I got out while I had the chance.”

Hyakkimaru nodded and held out his hand to Dororo, who eyed it warily.

“Okay, I won't send you back there. But we do have to get to the bottom of this, and I need your help. It could be dangerous. I don't want you or anyone getting hurt.”

Dororo didn't take his hand, but he did smile a little.

“Yeah, sure. Don't know how you get anything done without me anyway.

 

* * *

 

Hyakkimaru's dad was awake when they got back. He sat at the table, whittling a piece of wood as the radio played softly and a cup of tea grew cold at his elbow. He looked up when they entered and smiled warmly.

“Welcome back,” he said.

“We're home. How did you sleep?” Hyakkimaru asked as he stepped out of his boots. Behind him, Dororo flopped down heavily onto the step to untie his shoelaces.

“I slept well. Thank you for the pancakes, by the way. I wasn’t expecting you to have cooked.” Jukai looked pleased. Hyakkimaru hated to burst his bubble, but he couldn’t let his father think he could or would actually cook, either.

“Oh, Dororo made those. You remember what happened last time I tried making them, don’t you?”

A brief look of horror passed over Jukai's face. He shook his head as if to clear away the memory and turned his attention to Dororo, who was watching him with wary eyes.

“I'm Hyakkimaru's dad, Jukai Takumi. Welcome to my home. Sorry I didn't get the chance to greet you before.”

Dororo, clearly sensing he was little danger of being tossed back out onto the street, stood and puffed up a bit.

“I'm Dororo!” He gave a short and energetic bow before wandering over to see what the man was carving.

“Just Dororo?” Jukai raised a bushy eyebrow. Dororo raised one back in challenge.

“One day I'm going to be the world’s greatest thief. Only amateur thieves give out their full name.”

Jukai's other eyebrow raised to the same elevation as the first, but somehow he managed not to look or sound mocking when he said “is that so?”

“Yes.” Dororo nodded emphatically. “But I'm gonna be like— like Nezumi Kozō. Like Mama and Papa.”

Jukai's large hand reached out and gently ruffled Dororo's hair. Dororo squeaked in protest and ducked out of the way, but he was laughing. Hyakkimaru felt his lips curling into a smile. He came over to the table and sat down next to his dad, reaching out to take the wood from his hands and inspect it. Dororo leaned over to look as well.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Whatever it wants to be. I'm merely removing the wood which doesn't belong there.” Jukai mimed whittling with his carving knife.

Dororo blinked at him, nonplussed, and turned back to Hyakkimaru.

“Aniki, can you do anything like this?”

Hyakkimaru wiggled his free hand in a “so-so” gesture.

“I'm not as good as Dad is, but I've done some sculpting. It's a good way to practice my fine motor skills with these.” He set down the block of wood and wiggled his fingers in Dororo's face. The boy batted them away.

“Whatever. What’s for lunch?”

Jukai cooked, claiming he didn’t think poisoning their guest with Hyakkimaru’s attempts would leave a good impression.

“I did fine yesterday,” Hyakkimaru pouted, though more for the sake of preserving his dignity in front of a child who liked to mock people than for actual argument’s sake. “And I’ll have you know Mio thinks my peanut butter onigiri are delicious.”

Dororo paused midway through handing Jukai a cucumber and gave Hyakkimaru a look of such absolute disgust that he worried his face might stick like that.

“Aniki,” he said, “what the  _ fuck. _ ”

“Hey,” Jukai and Hyakkimaru admonished at once. Dororo didn’t seem to notice.

“First, that’s disgusting and I see why your dad doesn’t let you cook. Second, she’s your girlfriend—”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

“Not yet, but she’s basically obligated to like it. And third, in what circle of hell does peanut butter onigiri seem like a good idea? You have no taste.”

Hyakkimaru shrugged.

“No, I don’t. I like the texture, though.” 

Dororo threw his hands into the air, and Jukai took the opportunity to grab the cucumber. The boy made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat.

“Does  _ any _ part of your body work the way it’s supposed to?” he demanded. Hyakkimaru had to pause and think of an answer.

“Yeah, the parts I made do,” Jukai snorted, deftly peeling and slicing the cucumber into cubes. Hyakkimaru rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. Instead, he watched as the other two continued to prepare their meal. For all of Dororo’s insistence on being independent, he seemed eager to help out. His soul flame burned bright and focused next to Jukai’s calmer one. If Hyakkimaru concentrated, he could feel the emotions of both lapping at the edges of his own. Dororo was excited and happy. His dad was calm and pleased.

Dororo might be an annoying little brat, but Hyakkimaru could admit he wouldn’t be adverse to letting him stick around— especially since it might be more trouble than it was worth to drive him off.

He waited until lunch was finished and the dishes washed to bring up the problem of the disappearing children. Part of him wanted to leave his dad out of it, but he knew they might need his advice if things went sour. Things often went sour when monsters and demons were involved.

“So, children are disappearing, and we need to figure out if it’s a monster doing it.” He figured it would be best to simply get it out into the open for discussion. The look on Jukai’s face, however, suggested that perhaps he could have found a more tactful way to broach the subject.

It took a little explaining to get his dad caught up on what Mio had told him. The man actually had to sit down on the sofa with his head in his hands once Hyakkimaru told him the number of suspected abductees.

“How long has this been going on?” Jukai asked. Hyakkimaru was about to shrug when Dororo spoke up.

“Three months.”

Both father and son looked at the boy, whose expression had gone hard and upset.

“The first one happened three months ago, right after the new owners came in and fired Jishoni-san, the old caretaker.” Dororo shook his head. “They told us Tatsuzo ran away, but how could he have? He was  _ five _ . He’d barely figured out which doors were ‘pull’ and which were ‘push’.”

The last part sounded like he may have been trying for a joke and failing. Hyakkimaru watched his soul flame flicker and dance in agitation.

“And it kept happening. Kids would disappear, and they’d tell us they ran away, and the police were looking for them, but we never heard anything. I knew something was up, but I couldn’t figure out what.” Dororo looked Hyakkimaru in the eye, almost daring him to argue. “The fifth kid disappeared two months ago. I figured I’d better leave before anything happened to me as well, so I did run away. I don’t know if they’re counting me among the twelve missing or not, but I am sure I’m the only one to leave willingly.”

Hyakkimaru sat down on the sofa next to his dad and stared down at his arm, as if he could see to the blade beneath.

“We need more information,” he said. It was frustrating, but he knew he couldn’t simply barge into the facility swinging his blades around.

“I feel like it was easier when all we had to deal with was little imps breaking in and making a mess of the house,” Jukai said. “Now that you’re fighting bigger and bigger monsters, the little ones are too scared to bother you, but the big ones are crafty.”

Dororo groaned, walked over to the couch, and flopped down to lay half on the cushion and half across Hyakkimaru. The older boy protested but made no move to dislodge him.

“Man, aniki, I thought I got away from all of this nonsense, and here you are dragging me back in. You’re bad for my health.”

“Literally no one is forcing you to stay, Dororo.”

“No, I’m gonna. As if I’d let you have all the fun.”

Hyakkimaru leaned his head back and tried to ignore the sappy look his dad was giving him.

“I think,” he said, voice grave, “We’re going to have to talk to that weird old man with the guitar.”

 

* * *

 

The old man wasn’t hard to find. One simply had to follow the sound of a dying weasel around for a few blocks until they found whichever unfortunate street corner he had decided to busk at that day. Hyakkimaru had no idea if the man had a home or if he slept on the streets. Sometimes he wasn’t even sure if the man was actually real, or some elaborate hallucination, and it seemed the man preferred it that way.

“He says his name is Biwamaru, though I doubt that’s true.” Hyakkimaru was trying and failing to explain to Dororo exactly how weird the man was. “He always seems to pop up at the most inconvenient times. It’s like he knows when I’m stuck on a demon hunt, and comes to bully me into figuring out the answer.”

“Uh-huh…” Dororo said, sounding skeptical. “So why are we talking to him about this? How would he know anything?”

“He has this uncanny way of finding information and solutions which wouldn’t have occurred to me. Also, surely you’ve figured out that people ignore the homeless and gossip as if they aren’t there.”

Dororo held out his hands in a helpless gesture.

“Well, sure, but I use that information to break into places and steal things when the owners are out. I don’t listen to the boring gossip.”

Hyakkimaru smiled down at him and reached out to ruffle his hair, but the boy caught on and ducked away quickly. He danced away a few steps, sticking out his tongue and reaching up to pat down the top of his head where a few strands had pulled loose from his high ponytail. Stretching his arm out further, Hyakkimaru pursued him, so Dororo fled. The chase lasted for nearly a block before Dororo stopped and pointed to the street sign catty-corner to them across the intersection. A man sat against it, strumming on a guitar. His back was to them, but Hyakkimaru could make out his distinctive white yukata and bald head.

“Is that him?” Dororo tilted his head. “Because, if so, you weren’t kidding about the noise.”

“Yeah, that’s him.” Hyakkimaru resisted the urge to remove his cochlear implants’ external processors as they crossed first one street, then the next, and came to stand in front of Biwamaru. The man’s eyes were milky with blindness, but he tilted his head up anyway and grinned.

“Ah, Hyakkimaru. It’s been a while.”

“Hey, old man. How have you been?” Hyakkimaru pulled a five hundred yen note and dropped it into the man’s open guitar case.

“Good, good. It seems enough people have good taste in music to keep me fed.”

“That, or pity. Still keeping a sword in the neck of that thing?”

“Why, has something happened to yours?” Biwamaru raised one wrinkly eyebrow.

“What, does everyone except me get a sword? Aniki, I want a sword!” Dororo groused. Biwamaru tilted his head towards him as if noticing him for the first time, though he must have seen his soul flame as they approached.

“Ah, and who is this?” The old man cocked his head. “You didn’t tell me you have a little brother, Hyakkimaru.”

“It’s a recent development,” Hyakkimaru said as Dororo loudly announced his name. “I need your help, old man.”

Biwamaru leaned back against the pole and gave him an expectant smile.

“I should have guessed you wouldn’t come to say hello.”

Dororo laughed at the embarrassed expression Hyakkimaru was sure he was wearing and poked him in the ribs. He snatched the offending fingers and held them out of reach.

“I’ve heard there are kids going missing recently, and I have reason to believe it’s something worse than a human kidnapper.” He grimaced. “Have you heard anything about this? Anything that might help?”

Biwamaru’s smile fell and he shook his head sadly.

“I had heard whispers, but nothing solid enough to send you after them. I did meet a spirit the other day who could be helpful, however. It’s a little confused, but harmless.” He plucked a few chords on the guitar, thinking. “You’ll find it near a burnt-out temple on the east end of town, by the elementary school.”

Dororo stiffened, inhaling sharply. His eyes were wide with some realization.

“I remember when that temple burnt down. It’s right next to the foster home, so everyone talked about it. That was right before Jishoni-san was fired.”

Hyakkimaru grimaced. It was possible the events were related.

“Thanks, old man. I’ll check it out.” He turned to go, but Biwamaru wasn’t finished.

“Wait, Hyakkimaru,” he said. “You may find it useful to have an inside man.”

He cast a significant look at Dororo. The boy tensed further at the look, but held his ground.

“I’m not going back there,” he vowed. “Aniki promised he wouldn’t make me.”

“Not even to save the lives of innocent children?”

“What good is that if they kill me?” Dororo retorted. He was about ready to spring at the old man, so Hyakkimaru crouched down directly in his line of sight. To his surprise, there were angry tears pricking at the boy’s eyes.

“Hey, look at me,” he murmured. Dororo complied, but his jaw was still set in a mutinous expression. On any other nine-year-old, it would have been hilarious. “Dororo, I’m not gonna make you go. I’d rather leave you at home and have you stay safe.”

Dororo chewed on his lower lip, searching Hyakkimaru’s face for any dishonesty. Finding none, he deflated. He sniffed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He wiped that on his shorts.

“I promised Mama I’d do whatever I had to do to stay alive.”

“That’s good.” Hyakkimaru risked putting a hand oh the younger boy’s shoulder. He accepted the touch, leaning into it slightly, and nodded.

“We may as well find that spirit. I want to know what kind of messed-up ghost hangs around a burned temple.”

Hyakkimaru squeezed his shoulder and stood again. As he moved to withdraw his hand, Dororo reached up and snatched it. His grip was tight. He also refused to meet Hyakkimaru’s eyes, instead gazing studiously at his grubby sneakers, a flush creeping up his neck. Hyakkimaru smiled a little.

“Thanks for your help, old man,” he told Biwamaru. The musician inclined his head and smiled.

“I trust you’ll let me know how it goes, once you get all of this sorted out. Maybe I’ll write a song about it.”

“Please don’t.”

Biwamaru’s discordant strumming followed them as they walked away.

“The wind blows in the east, and it rains in the west…”

They made it a couple of blocks before Dororo pulled his hand away and relaxed back into his normal posture.

“You weren’t kidding about that guy,” he said, strolling along with his hands clasped behind his head. “He’s like the real-life weird mentor for the anime protagonist. Which I guess makes you the anime protagonist.”

Hyakkimaru shook his head and wondered who on earth would want to watch an anime about his messed-up life.

 

* * *

 

It was still early afternoon, so they decided to go ahead and look for the strange spirit. The burned temple was a short bus ride away, and Dororo assured Hyakkimaru he knew the neighborhood and they could be back home in time for dinner, no problem. Hyakkimaru hoped he hadn’t jinxed it. It would be his luck to come across a crafty and intelligent demon at twilight, right when his eyes were still working only enough to make things harder. He’d done it before, of course, but it would be more difficult if he had to worry about keeping Dororo safe as well.

It was strange. He’d known the kid less than a day, but he was already attached. The way Dororo acted made him suspect the feeling was mutual. What would they do when this was over, and Dororo either went back to living at the group home or, more likely, ran away again? Hyakkimaru mulled it over as the bus carried them to their destination and every stop in between. 

He and Dororo sat in the section marked off for disabled and elderly people. A middle-aged woman gave them the stink-eye, clearly only seeing them as two children who didn’t belong there. In response, Hyakkimaru crossed his legs and positioned his knee so the mechanical joint showed through the large tear in the leg of his jeans and waggled his artificial fingers at her in a sarcastic greeting. When she looked away, flushed with embarrassment, Dororo laughed and gave Hyakkimaru a boisterous high-five. Hyakkimaru admitted in his mind that he didn’t want to lose this strange new relationship he’d somehow formed.

Upon exiting the bus, Dororo led him through the neighborhood. It was full of small houses and the occasional family-run business. When they turned east at the elementary school, they left the dense housing behind and walked down a small but well-kept road. The road skirted the back of the school and wound into a wooded area, which opened up a few dozen yards in to a grassy field with a large pile of charred timbers in the middle. The timbers surrounded what may have once been a stone foundation for a building.

“How did the fire start?” Hyakkimaru approached the wreckage with cautious steps. The timbers looked unstable, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it collapsed on top of him if he got careless.

“Supposedly there was a lightning strike on the porch, and the fire spread to the rest of it.” Dororo didn’t to have the same level of healthy caution, since he picked his way through the standing timbers and charred boards in the same manner he might walk through a jungle gym. “I think someone did it on purpose, but from what I could overhear, there wasn’t any of the usual acc… accel…”

“Accelerant?”

“Yeah, whatever that means.”

“It’s a fancy word for lighter fluid.”

There was a strange energy hanging in the air, like static electricity. It wasn’t the same miasma of an approaching demon, but…

Hyakkimaru spun around and came face to face with a ghost. His gasp alerted Dororo, who popped out from behind a pillar and screeched at the sight.

“It’s a monster! Aniki, kill it! Kill it!” he raced up and hid behind Hyakkimaru’s legs, peeking around to look at the shade of a tall woman who stood before them.

“Please take this child…” she rasped. Hyakkimaru could see her throat was torn to shreds. Her black hair was long in some places and ripped completely out in others, leaving bloody patches of scalp showing through. Her face was a patchwork of bruises and cuts, and it was nearly impossible to guess what she may have looked like in life. “This child… please take him.”

“I already have my hands full with one kid, I don’t need another.” Hyakkimaru crossed his arms.

“Hey!” Dororo protested, trading fear for indignation. He subsided when the ghost shifted to the side to reveal…

Was that the child she wanted him to take?

“Is that a kid?” he asked. “It looks like a potato.”

“This child needs your pity,” the ghost’s voice gurgled a little, as if her throat were still full of blood. “He wanted to grow up and could not…”

And she was gone, leaving the… child… behind with them. It was taller than Hyakkimaru, lumpy and wrinkled as a raisin. Its head was easily half its body length, and its proportions reminded Hyakkimaru of the developing fetus in his biology textbook. To call it a potato might have been generous, and insulting to potatoes besides.

“Mama?” it asked, tottering towards them. Hyakkimaru quickly backed away, almost tripping over Dororo. The movement caused Dororo to fall over, and Hyakkimaru did trip, landing with his legs tangled with Dororo’s and back smacking into the dirt.

“Ow! What’s the big idea?” Dororo squirmed out from under Hyakkimaru, took one look at the ghost, and shimmied up one of the more stable timbers still sticking out of the ground. “Aniki, kill it!”

“It’s not a monster, Dororo. Killing it wouldn’t do any good!” Hyakkimaru stood and dusted off his back as well as he could as he avoided the advancing spirit. “Besides, it’s already dead.”

“What is it, then? A ghost?”

It was hard to concentrate on reading the ghost’s energy while dodging its pudgy, grasping hands. Its soul flame was the weak ember of a lingering spirit, but it had a strange layered quality to it he’d never seen before.

“Maybe,” he said. “It feels like several ghosts all combined into one.”

“What? How?”

Hyakkimaru ducked another hug attempt.

“Maybe, if a bunch of weak ghosts all had the same unfinished business, they could combine into one for more power?” He wasn't quick enough, and the ghost caught him up in a massive, suffocating embrace. He kicked wildly, trying to escape.

“Mama!” It cooed, nuzzling the top of his head with its lumpy potato face.

“I'm not your mother! Put me down! Dororo, quit laughing and help me!”

Dororo seemed content to stay straddling the pole like a monkey for the rest of his life, if he had to. He grinned, toothy and bright, down at Hyakkimaru and his misfortune.

“No can do, aniki. You're on your own.”

Hyakkimaru sagged, letting the ghost take his full weight. It was basically an overgrown child— it would get distracted soon enough anyway.

The thought made him freeze.

“Dororo.” He tilted his head up towards the younger boy, and there must have been something urgent in his expression, because Dororo slid down to the ground and walked a few steps closer.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“I just thought of something. What kind of ghosts can you think of that would be weak, numerous, and sharing the same goal, maybe even the same death?” He gestured, best as he could with pinned arms, at the ghost holding him. “And why would they join together to form something which looks like this child?”

Dororo blanched. He took a good look at the ghost holding Hyakkimaru, which had begun sucking on a lock of his long ponytail and murmuring happily.

“So they're all dead.” His face crumpled. “And this is what's left of them.”

“I think so.”

Dororo’s lip quivered and he bit down onto it. His shoulders began to shake. Several ragged breaths came from his small frame, and he turned and fled back down the path they’d come from.

“Dororo!” Hyakkimaru called after him, struggling again. The ghost had relaxed its grip, and he managed to break free after a particularly hard thrash. A wail sounded behind him as he chased Dororo, but he didn’t bother to check if the ghost was following him because right now he could only focus on Dororo’s retreating form. The boy ran down the slope, across the road, and ducked through a gap in the fence around the elementary school and over the grounds. Hyakkimaru couldn’t fit through the gap, so he had to climb the chain link. This cost him precious time and, when he landed and continued his pursuit, Dororo had vanished.

“Dororo!” he called out as he neared the playground equipment. “Dororo, where are you?”

No response. Hyakkimaru closed his eyes, searching for Dororo’s soul flame instead of continuing his wild goose chase. Dororo was a thief. If he wanted to, Hyakkimaru had no doubt he could vanish from the eyes of a typical onlooker. He could not, however, hide his soul flame. Now Hyakkimaru knew what his soul looked like, and he could find him anywhere.

To his surprise, Dororo was close by. Hyakkimaru ducked beneath one of the jungle gym’s platforms and opened his eyes to a small alcove. Dororo had pressed his back up against the wall and huddled into a tiny ball. It was shaded under the platform, but lit enough that Hyakkimaru could see his glare. His hands clutched at his ankles and his chin was buried in his scabby knees.

It was quiet, and Hyakkimaru realized that the ghost hadn’t pursued him. He had to crawl to get closer to Dororo, but he stopped a few feet away so the boy wouldn’t feel too cornered. He didn’t comment on Dororo’s blotchy red cheeks or watery eyes. He merely sat hunched over against the jungle gym and waited.

He wasn’t good at this. He didn’t know how to comfort people, and he especially didn’t know how to deal with someone as prickly and independent as Dororo. They were silent for a long time before Dororo spoke.

“What do you want?” He demanded. Hyakkimaru blinked.

“To… make sure you’re okay?” he said, wondering why his motives were in in question. “I was afraid you would run out into the road.”

“I’m not that stupid!” Dororo unfolded and lunged forward so he was crouched on his hands and knees, facing Hyakkimaru. “And why do you care, anyway?”

Hyakkimaru had no idea how to answer that, so he held his hands out to the side in a “search me” gesture. Dororo growled at him.

“We met  _ yesterday _ , because I followed you home and you didn’t feel like chasing me off. I get that you’re keeping me around because you need my help with this, but why do you  _ care _ ?”

Hyakkimaru was a little hurt at the implication. Did Dororo actually think he was only keeping him around for as long as he was useful? Then again, Dororo was used to life on the street. What reason would he have for believing anything else?

“Dororo, I’m not ‘keeping you around’ because you’re useful, or anything like that.” He made air quotes to try to get his point across. “You may have already guessed this, but I don’t have a whole lot of friends. Most people, even the ones who don’t know I have swords in my arms, think I’m a freak. It’s nice to be around someone who knows what am and still treats me like a person.”

Dororo sat back on his heels, giving Hyakkimaru a considering look. He didn’t speak. Hyakkimaru pressed on.

“I mean, yeah, you’re annoying and your manners are terrible and you smell awful—”

“You can't even smell!”

“— But you’re also funny and smart and you have the potential to be so much more than a petty thief.”

Dororo blushed and looked down at his clasped hands. Wood chips dug into Hyakkimaru’s butt through his jeans when he shifted.

“I… like that you… treat me like a person too.” his voice was so quiet and halting that Hyakkimaru had trouble parsing what he said at first. “Most people treat me like I’m a problem they need to solve.”

“I know how that feels.” Hyakkimaru glanced around at their little nook. “So why are we in here, anyway?”

“Well,  _ you’re _ in here because you’re a moron who can’t give people the privacy they need to sulk in peace.” Dororo huffed, crossing his arms. “I’m here because…”

He paused, looking around as well and grimacing.

“I went to school here, when I lived at the home. I used to hide here sometimes when there were too many kids picking on me to fight at once.”

Hyakkimaru didn’t ask how many fights he had gotten into, or how many days he’d hidden under the jungle gym, away from his classmates. He didn’t ask why Dororo had run away from him and the ghost child, or why he’d been so upset. He could already guess.

He pulled out his phone and grimaced when he saw at the time.

“Let’s head back,” he said. “This is hurting my butt.”

“Yeah, I’m not convinced your butt is real, either.” Dororo scooted out from the nook before Hyakkimaru could pinch him for his comment.

 

* * *

 

The walk home from the bus stop was subdued. Dororo was thinking, or caught up in memory, or maybe emotionally drained. He scuffed his shoes  along the pavement and shoved his tiny hands into his hole-filled pockets. Hyakkimaru watched him. He muttered to himself periodically, but his voice was so low there was no way Hyakkimaru could have heard the words. His emotions swirled around violently, however, and they were clear as day.

Anger, fear, sadness, and guilt. A whole host of negative emotions prodded at Hyakkimaru's awareness, and in the waning afternoon Dororo's soul flame smouldered and crackled.

A noise from an alley broke them both from their musings, and Hyakkimaru grimaced. What was it with the alleys this week? Dororo cautiously peeked in when noise repeated. It sounded less like a monster and more like an animal. There was no evil aura in the vicinity, either, so Hyakkimaru let his posture relax a little. 

“It's probably a fox or something,” he said. “There's nothing demonic in there.”

“No, I think it's—” Dororo made a noise of triumph and darted into the alley with a shout of “Nota!”

“Dororo!” Hyakkimaru needn't have worried, however, because Dororo popped back out holding a squirming, filthy little puppy. It was a grimy off-white with a large black patch over one of its brown eyes and floppy ears. Dororo held it close to his chest, leaving its legs and tail to dangle helplessly. It didn't seem upset about the arrangement, though.

“Aniki, this is Nota. I feed him sometimes, when I can find extra food.” Dororo nuzzled his face into the dirty, possibly white fur on top of the puppy's head. “He's a good boy.”

Hyakkimaru frowned, but Nota and Dororo gave him matching puppy eyes, and he could already tell how this was going to end. And, really, Dororo had been so upset not five minutes before.

“... That's not how you hold a dog,” he said, holding his hands out to correct Dororo's grip. He situated one of the boy’s hands to cradle the dog’s back legs and stepped back. The amount of hope in Dororo’s eyes was hard to look at directly, and his soul flame even more so. “I guess we’d better stop for some dog food.”

When they got home, Jukai was understandably surprised to see his son with a large bag of dog food and a sheepish expression, and more surprised to see Dororo with a tiny dog and a look of pure triumph.

“Well,” he said after blinking in confusion several times, “at least you didn’t bring home another child.”

“Sorry, dad,” Hyakkimaru sighed. Jukai shook his head and directed them to go give the dog a bath before they let it roam around the house.

“What is it with you guys and baths?” Dororo asked as they filled the tub with a few inches of warm water. “Is it like some sort of rite of passage?”

“Dororo, normal people bathe every day.” Hyakkimaru flicked some water at the boy. Nota sat in the tub with a puzzled expression on his little face.

“That sounds fake.”

It took three rounds of shampooing to get the puppy clean. He turned out to have white fur after all. Dororo somehow got soaked rinsing him though the dog hadn’t struggled or fussed at being washed at all. Hyakkimaru tossed a spare towel over him and began to rub vigorously as Dororo dried the puppy.

“Aniki, get off of me!” he whined. Hyakkimaru rubbed at his hair a few more times for good measure.

“I think I have another pair of shorts and a tee shirt you can change into,” he said as they exited the bathroom. Nota stuck close to Dororo’s heels, gazing up at him lovingly and trying to trip him.

“No need for that,” Jukai said. He was in the doorway, shrugging on his coat and trying to tie his shoes at the same time. “I found some of your old clothes in the attic and put them in the guest room. They should fit better.”

“Oh, thanks. I didn’t think to look there.” Hyakkimaru scratched the back of his neck.

“I know, you never do. That’s how I kept you believing in Santa Claus for so long.” Jukai smiled, ignoring Hyakkimaru’s indignant cry of “Dad!” and Dororo’s cackle. He finished tying his shoes and pointed to the kitchen. “Dinner is on the counter. I won’t be back until late again, but I’ll have my phone on.”

“Okay. Stay safe, Dad.” Hyakkimaru gave his dad a goodbye hug. His dad gave excellent hugs.

Dororo gave him an amused look as Jukai shut the door behind him.

“What?”

“You’re actually a huge softie under those swords, aren’t you?” Dororo accused, snickering. Hyakkimaru rolled his eyes and walked past him into the kitchen.

“If you want a hug too, all you have to do is ask.”

“Ew, no. Don’t hug me.”

Hyakkimaru ignored the little tsundere in favor of reading the feeding instructions on the back of the bag of dog food. 

“Hey, Dororo, go into the bathroom and weigh Nota, will you? I need to know how much to feed him.”

“Just give him a bowlful! He could do with some extra!” Dororo indicated the puppy at his side, whose ribs were visible under his thin young skin. Hyakkimaru thought about how pets and their owners resemble each other.

“Yeah, okay, but we’ll give it to him a little at a time so he doesn’t make himself sick.” He pulled a couple of old plastic bowls from the cabinet, filled one with water, and scooped a teacup’s worth of kibble into the other. Nota dove in with gusto when he set them down. Dororo crouched next to him and patted his little head.

“Good boy, Nota! See, aren’t you glad I brought you here?”

The dog’s only response was to continue chomping. Hyakkimaru smiled and began plating their own dinner.

 

* * *

 

After dinner, all three of them collapsed into a pile on the couch.

“I thought you didn’t want a hug,” Hyakkimaru accused as Dororo draped his limbs across his reclined torso and Nota curled up on the small of the boy’s back.

“This isn’t hugging,” Dororo said as Hyakkimaru placed a hand between his shoulder blades. “This is strategic warmth sharing, and the only part of you that’s actually warm is the part I’m laying on.”

“Well, maybe you should have put on more than a thin set of pajamas, if you need to leech off of me.” His actions belied his words, however, because he could feel his hand unconsciously stroking up and down the part of Dororo’s back which Nota hadn’t claimed. The younger boy sighed in contentment and went boneless. His nose mashed into Hyakkimaru’s sternum as he tried to burrow deeper.

“Yeah, sure, but these are, like, the softest pajamas ever.”

Dororo was silent after that, and Hyakkimaru nearly dozed off in the peaceful quiet and post-meal sluggishness. Nota began to snore tiny little puppy snores. It startled him when Dororo spoke again.

“You’re going to try to find the demon tomorrow, aren’t you?” he sounded resigned, not needing confirmation to know he was right. 

“Yes. I think I can find some way to sneak in and investigate where it might be hiding, and maybe even kill it,” Hyakkimaru said anyway.

A pause.

“Let me help.”

Hyakkimaru raised his head from where it leaned against the arm of the couch. Dororo had his chin on his sternum and gazed up at him with imploring brown eyes.

“What?” he asked. “I thought you didn’t want to go back there.”

“I  _ don’t _ .” Dororo’s mouth twisted. “But meeting that ghost today… all those kids…”

“Dororo, it wasn’t your fault. If you had stayed, you might have been one of them, but there’s nothing you could have done for them.”

“But I can do something now, can’t I?”

Hyakkimaru hesitated before he wrapped his arms tightly around the boy currently using him as a pillow. Tiny fists gripped the fabric of his shirt.

“Mama and Papa always wanted to help people. They stole from the rich people who took advantage of their positions and gave whatever they could to the ones taken advantage of.” He sucked in a breath. “Their best friend betrayed them to one of the same men they stole from in the first place. If I ever see him again, I’ll kill him.”

Dororo’s grip tightened to the point where his knuckles went white.

“I want to help people, too. I want Mama and Papa to be proud of me. If I can help you find what killed those kids…” He met Hyakkimaru’s eyes again. “I’ll go back, and I’ll be your inside man, like that creepy old guy said I should.”

“You’re sure?” Hyakkimaru searched his expression for any sign of doubt, and found none. There was only apprehension and determination. “You won’t put yourself in too much danger?”

“I make no guarantees. But I’ll be fine.” He forced a shaky grin. “I always am.”

Hyakkimaru frowned, but decided arguing about Dororo’s safety and self preservation was pointless. He couldn’t have survived on the streets for so long without a strong survival instinct, anyway.

“There’s… one other thing.” Dororo levered himself up onto his elbows and away from Hyakkimaru’s chest. Nota woke, looked around, and leaped from the boy’s back onto the floor to trot back to his refilled food bowl. With the puppy’s weight off of him, Dororo was free to sit up onto Hyakkimaru’s legs. He didn’t look like he would continue, so Hyakkimaru poked him in the forehead.

“C’mon, spit it out,” he said. Dororo stuck his tongue out, but his heart wasn’t in it. It took him several more seconds before he spoke.

“At the group home… the staff… they all— they all think I’m a girl.”

Hyakkimaru raised an eyebrow.

“Why would they think that?” He made sure to keep his tone even.

“Because— because that’s what it says on my birth certificate. Marukabi Dororo, December 19th, female.” He laughed, dry and bitter. “I’m not. Obviously. But they don’t believe me.”

Hyakkimaru nodded. A host of responses flashed through his head, but none that fit the situation, so he settled on an understatement.

“I believe you.”

Dororo’s relief was palpable in the air, and probably would have been even if Hyakkimaru couldn’t sense emotions the way most people could scent an aroma. He managed a small, genuine smile.

“Well, I guess that's the important thing, isn’t it?” his voice was soft and brittle. “Jishoni-san believed me too. Once she was gone, it got worse. That’s another reason I left.”

Hyakkimaru reached out, gently pulling back down Dororo down into the hug he’d insisted he didn’t need or want. The boy sagged into it gratefully and buried his face into Hyakkimaru’s collarbone. He didn’t mention any squeezing Dororo’s own arms may have done to his torso. It wasn’t important.

“Okay, if we’re sending you into the heart of danger, we’ll need a plan.”

Dororo turned his head so it was his cheek rather than his nose mashed into Hyakkimaru’s chest. Hyakkimaru suspected he had a snail-trail of snot on his shirt now.

“Like what?”

Hyakkimaru thought about it, trying to figure out their best option. He was so used to monster hunting alone that he didn’t know what to do with backup.

“Well,” he said, “We need to establish where the monster is, and how it’s getting to the kids, right?”

A small nod.

“And you’re good at sneaking around and getting into places you shouldn’t, I’m sure.”

Another nod, this time with a giggle attached to it. Good, progress.

“So. Where would you hide a monster in a place like the group home, so it can still get around and find its victims?”

Dororo hummed and forced himself out of Hyakkimaru’s arms and into a sitting position.

“There’s an old storage shed on the grounds. It’s always locked, but there might be some way for the monster to get in and out.” He grinned. “I never bothered to break in because I didn’t think there was anything worth stealing in there, but I’m sure I could do it.”

Hyakkimaru told himself he was only encouraging this because it was the only way to save lives. He told himself, were it not for the monster and the dead children, he would absolutely be telling Dororo off for breaking and entering. He justified all of this in his head with the thought that he could save the lecture for after this was all over. With a sigh of resignation, he nodded.

“Okay, you break and enter, and I’ll investigate from the outside more. Maybe I can talk with the ghost who left us with that kid.” He shuddered at the memory of her appearance.

Dororo made a face as something occurred to him.

“Hey, aniki, how am I gonna tell you when I’ve found something?”

Hyakkimaru groaned. He knew he’d forgotten something.

“Maybe we can grab you a cheap cell phone. One of those pay-to-use ones?”

Dororo shook his head.

“They’d confiscate it. They’re gonna be watching me closely until after lights out, too, so I can’t do much investigating before everyone is in bed.”

“Okay, so we shouldn’t bother going there until afternoon.” Hyakkimaru hummed, thinking through their options. “Is there a landline you could use?

“I could probably break into the office, if no one is working late.”

I put too many variables on it to be reliable.  _ If _ Dororo could get to the office undetected,  _ if _ he could break in,  _ if _ there was nobody there…

“I may have a suggestion,” he said, “but you can’t freak out about it.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it makes me want to freak out.”

“Just listen, brat.”

Hyakkimaru shifted and sat up so he leaned against the armrest. Dororo pretended not to notice, and didn’t make any move to abandon his seat on Hyakkimaru’s hard shins.

“So, I can see souls, right? It’s how I can tell monsters from people. Biwamaru can do it too.” He gestured vaguely. “It’s how I found you yesterday. I was looking for the source of the demonic aura I’d sensed.”

Dororo’s face told Hyakkimaru exactly how much he believed any of that.

“I can also feel people’s emotions if I concentrate, or if they’re strong enough.”

Dororo’s eyebrows flew up.

“Aniki, have you been reading my mind?”

“Not on purpose. You seem to have a lot of emotions, all of the time.”

Dororo crossed his arms and huffed. He didn’t seem too weirded out, however, so Hyakkimaru figured he may as well keep explaining.

“It gets easier the better I know someone, and sometimes I can talk to someone with my mind if I know them well and concentrate hard enough.” He frowned at the look of absolute disbelief Dororo was shooting at him. “I’m not making it up.”

“Okay, I’ll buy the ‘I see dead people’ thing because I saw you fight that monster when you couldn’t see, but  _ mind reading _ ?” Dororo raised his chin, haughty and stubborn. “Prove it.

Hyakkimaru sigheded, but he wasn’t surprised Dororo would demand proof. He was lucky the boy wasn’t accusing him of total insanity. He closed his eyes and focused on the soul flame in front of him, feeling for its edges with his mind. He mentally prodded at it and found a spot to hold on. The motion reminded him of holding hands, though it was a lot more invasive over all.

_ Do you believe me now? _ He asked, sending the thought as clear and strong as he could. He may have overdone the loudness, because Dororo flinched a little.

“What the fuck!” Dororo said, but he didn’t shove away Hyakkimaru’s mental presence.  _ Yeah, I believe you. You don’t have to shout. _

Hyakkimaru grinned, opening his eyes to find Dororo's expression mirroring his.

“That’s so cool!” Dororo bounced a little bit in his excitement. “How long have you been able to do that?”

“Always, I think.” Hyakkimaru scratched the back of his head. “Before I had my cochlear implants and speech therapy, it was the only way I could communicate with Dad. He tells me it was a struggle to get me to actually practice talking because I’d get frustrated and go right back to mind-speak instead.”

“Why not use sign language?”

“Dororo, I didn’t have hands.”

Dororo threw back his head and laughed. The noise caused Nota to yip in confusion and trot over. Hyakkimaru picked up the little dog and, though he seemed confused that it wasn’t Dororo holding him, he quickly settled down on a prime spot in Hyakkimaru’s lap where both boys could stroke him. Smart dog.

“We’ll have to take him to the vet soon.” Hyakkimaru’s fingers found a particularly sensitive spot behind Nota’s ear, and the dog pressed into the touch so hard he fell over. “And I have no idea how to potty train a dog, but I doubt Dad would be happy if he peed on the furniture.”

Nota had taken advantage of his new position to beg for belly rubs.

“Are you going to get him a collar and tag?” Dororo asked as he played with the little front paws. “He might get lost if you don’t. He’s used to living on the streets.”

Hyakkimaru wondered if Dororo was truly talking about Nota, but he was smart enough to recognize that this wasn’t the time to push. He gently squished the dog’s cheeks.

“Yeah, good idea. We might get him microchipped.” He reached up and flicked Dororo’s forehead. “Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to get you chipped too.”

Dororo slapped his hand away and grinned.

“Just try it. I’ll bite you.”

The rest of the evening was spent cuddling with Nota and practicing their mental conversation until Dororo could initiate a conversation even after Hyakkimaru withdrew from the link. The look of triumph on his face when he managed to shout  _ hey, poop-head! _ across their connection was almost worth being insulted. He still gave Dororo a noogie for it, though.

Eventually the night wound to a close. Hyakkimaru forced Dororo to take a bath, took Nota outside to pee, and performed his own nighttime routine. He poked his head into the guest room to say good night, but paused when he saw how tangled Dororo’s hair was.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a comb?” he asked instead. Dororo stuck his tongue out and tried to finger-comb the wet strands, but ended up getting his fingers tangled.

“Ow. Of course I have.”

“You’re disgusting.” Hyakkimaru rolled his eyes. “Hang on.”

He grabbed a comb from the bathroom counter and sat on the guest bed behind Dororo. Taking hold of a clump of hair, he began working the tangles out from the bottom up as Dororo protested the treatment. Nota curled up in the duvet against Hyakkimaru’s thigh with a contented huff. Dororo slowly relaxed as Hyakkimaru worked the tangles out, and actually let out a happy little sigh when the comb stroked against his scalp.

“There, that wasn’t so hard once you stopped struggling, you little nincompoop.” Hyakkimaru placed the comb on the nightstand and stood, taking care not to disturb Nota too much. “Get some sleep.”

 

* * *

 

The next morning passed without anything happening, which was almost remarkable in and of itself. Jukai didn’t wake until nearly two in the afternoon, but once awake he seemed thrilled to get to know Nota. It only took the dog ten minutes and a few table scraps for the dog to realize the giant bear of a man was definitely someone whose good graces and lap he wanted to be in.

“Sorry, Dororo,” Hyakkimaru said as they watched the tableau, “but I think Dad has stolen your dog’s heart. I don’t think you’re getting him back.”

Dororo didn’t seem too upset about it, however. He was preoccupied with their plans for the evening, and Hyakkimaru’s attempt to lighten the mood fell flat. Anxiety and apprehension swirled around the boy. He tugged at the hem of his green hand-me-down tee and chewed on a ragged fingernail, almost tearing it to the quick. Hyakkimaru gently pulled his hand from his mouth before he could do any real damage. 

“There’s still time to back out, you know. We can come up with another plan.”

Dororo gave him a wan smile and shook his head.

“No. I’m not letting you have all the glory, aniki.”

The plan was to make it to the group home as the front office was about to close, so there would be no choice but for them to rush through the intake process and, hopefully, overlook some important questions they might otherwise try to ask. Afterwards, Hyakkimaru would make his way to the temple and try to find the ghosts from yesterday while Dororo got as much information as he could from the other children. It wasn’t a solid or foolproof plan by any stretch of the imagination, but it was all they had to work with.

As they were preparing to leave, Jukai slipped a handwritten list into his son’s hand.

“While you’re out, I need you to pick these up for me, if you can.”

Hyakkimaru unfolded the list and felt his eyes widen.

“Dad, this is…”

“Good luck tonight. I know you’re going to be out late, so be careful.”

Hyakkimaru nodded and let his dad pull him into a brief but warm hug. Jukai let go, crouched in front of a surprised Dororo, and pulled him into a hug as well, repeating the command to take care. Dororo glanced over his shoulder at Hyakkimaru with wide, confused eyes, so the older boy gave him a “get on with it” gesture. He knew his dad. Jukai wouldn’t let go until he felt the hug had been sufficiently comforting. It took Dororo a few more confused blinks before he tentatively reached up and returned the embrace. When Jukai let go, he held the small boy at arm’s length.

“Don’t worry about your dog, son. He’ll be safe here until you get back.”

A small, dumbfounded grin spread across Dororo’s face at the words.

“Okay, but I’m going to hold you to that.”

Dororo dashed out the front door, barely waiting for Hyakkimaru to follow. He managed to make it to the bus stop with Hyakkimaru nearly a block behind him. When the older boy caught up, he didn’t comment on how red Dororo’s face had become, nor on the small smile that he couldn’t seem to tamp down. The smile only fell from his face as they boarded the bus and drew closer to their destination. He slouched off the bus and led Hyakkimaru from the stop to the group home with an air of resignation which had never been there before.

The building was gray and nondescript. Its architecture was similar to the nearby elementary school, though it had a higher, less climbable fence around the courtyard. Hyakkimaru didn’t know if it was because of the tension in the air around Dororo, but he thought he could feel a miasma of misery radiating from it. Dororo was as tense as a bowstring beside him. Hyakkimaru held out a hand. Dororo glanced at it, up at him, and back down at the hand. Grabbing it, he squeezed it once, tightly, and dropped it.

“Let’s get this over with.”

He marched towards the front door with all the dignity he could muster in his tiny body, and Hyakkimaru followed him into the building.

They had timed it almost perfectly. The receptionist was in the middle of packing her papers away when they entered. She looked up, an annoyed expression clear across her face, but her eyes widened in recognition. Picking up a landline phone from its cradle, she quickly typed in a few digits. Her eyes didn’t leave them as she waited for the line to connect.

“Sabame-san, I’m sorry, but it’s urgent. One of the missing children has returned.” She had barely finished the sentence before she pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at it in bemusement as the dial tone emanated from the ear piece. “Um… please have a seat.” she gestured to the molded fiberglass chairs sitting near the front desk.

They both declined to sit. Dororo edged closer to Hyakkimaru until he was close enough to grab his hand. This time, he didn’t let go.

Everyone jumped when the door to the rest of the facility slammed open and a tall man in an expensive suit strode in. He was well put-together, and exuded an air of authority. His soul flame was weak, but clean and white. When Hyakkimaru met his eyes, however, he had to suppress a shudder. They were a dead as the eyes of a gutted fish.

“You found Dororo! We’ve been so worried, especially with all of the children running away recently. It’s dangerous out there.” The man strode forward, towering over Hyakkimaru as he gave a curt bow of greeting. Hyakkimaru returned it stiffly and didn’t break eye contact. “I am Sabame Misugi. I run this care home.”

“Jukai Hyakkimaru. I… found Dororo getting beaten up in an alley.”

“I was doing fine on my own…” Dororo muttered, though nobody acknowledged it. There was something about Sabame which bothered Hyakkimaru. Something about his aura wasn’t right.

Sabame reached out and grabbed Dororo’s wrist, causing both boys to stiffen. The grip was gentle but Hyakkimaru had no doubt it would be difficult to break.

“Come, young lady. We had better get you settled back in your room. Dinner will be soon.” Sabame nodded at Hyakkimaru. “Thank you for finding her, we were all worried.”

A flare of rage surged off of Dororo, so strong that Hyakkimaru wondered if Sabame could feel it. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from correcting the man— or decking him. Instead, he crouched down to Dororo’s eye level.

“You know how to get ahold of me,” he said. Dororo nodded. “I’ll see you soon. Promise.”

A look of pure determination settled onto Dororo’s features. He thrust his chin out and once again marched forward, practically dragging Sabame behind him.

_ Once more unto the breach, _ Hyakkimaru thought at him.

_ I have no idea what that means, _ Dororo shot back.  _ Go find your ghost, dummy. _

He was through the door and out of Hyakkimaru’s line of sight, though his soul flame still shone through. Hyakkimaru felt a pang of loneliness, but shoved it away. There were more important things to do. He could examine his emotions later. He turned his attention to the secretary, whose expression still told Hyakkimaru of her bewilderment.

“Do I need to… fill out anything?” He asked. She jumped. Perhaps she had forgotten he was there. She rifled through some papers and brought out a form.

“Please just give us your contact information so that we can reach you if anything comes up with Dororo in the next few days.”

Hyakkimaru didn’t bother to tell her that she’d probably be calling him tomorrow when Dororo disappeared again. He filled out the form, handed it back to her, and left.

The route back up to the temple was circuitous, but the temple grounds seemed to be directly up a large hill from the group home. The ruins were abandoned when he stepped over the ruined threshold.

“Hello?” he called, though he felt a little silly doing so. “Hello~? Potato baby, are you there?”

“Mama!”

Right on cue, the ghost appeared behind him. Hyakkimaru instinctively ducked and spun to face it, but it didn’t seem interested in grabbing him today. Instead, it sat on the ground and began banging two charred sticks together, scattering bits of ash and charcoal.

“Mama! Mama!”

“I’m not your mother, I’m sorry.” he walked up to the ghost and tentatively patted the top of its lumpy head. “I was hoping to speak to the other ghost who was with you. I’m trying to find and stop whatever it was that hurt you.”

The ghost gazed up at him with baleful eyes. It reached out a pudgy hand, trying to grasp his shirt, so he took the hand in his instead.

“I’m so sorry this happened. Whatever hurt you, I’m going to make them pay.”

“Why not take this child and keep it safe? Why must you seek revenge?”

Hyakkimaru looked up to see the ghostly woman from the day before. She still appeared bloody and beaten, and he had no doubt he was seeing her death wounds.

“Since you’re still here, I’m guessing neither of you can pass on until I kill whatever monster killed you. Do you really want to be stuck here, like this?” He gestured at the baby with the hand it wasn’t sucking on. “How many kids are in here? Five? Ten? A dozen?”

The woman blinked impassively at him.

“Eleven. Of the twelve missing children, eleven have come to me and joined the others within this child. I see the twelfth is not with you today.”

“Dororo went back to that place to find the truth. He’s putting himself into the line of danger for you so we can find out what is happening.”

A flicker of emotion finally crossed the woman’s beaten face.

“You have sent him to his death.” she accused, pointing a broken finger at Hyakkimaru. “You sent him to die, because the monster will know he knows too much and come after him next.”

“Then help me stop it before he gets hurt!” Hyakkimaru wrenched his hand away from the baby and moved towards the woman. “Tell me what I’m up against. I can fight it, but I need to know what I’m fighting!”

The ghost studied him. Her eyes were deep, and so, so sad. He wondered how old she’d been, to have such sorrow in her. Hyakkimaru had to fight not to fidget under her gaze.

“Yes… I believe you can. You have powers beyond what a regular human can sense and do.” She reached up and touched Hyakkimaru’s face. Her fingers were icy and her nails were torn, but he didn’t move away. When she dropped her hand she walked into the remains of the temple and gazed around.

“This temple held a powerful ward within it. No one knew it, but it created a barrier around much of the surrounding neighborhood to keep evil away. It served its purpose for centuries, and the barrier only grew stronger with so many nearby children to protect.” she closed her eyes, lost in memory. “The monster learned there were many children here, all in one place and often disregarded. It hoped to gain access to a new, easy feeding ground, but the temple prevented it. So the monster poisoned the mind of an ordinary man and had him burn the temple to the ground.”

Hyakkimaru felt the puzzle pieces slotting into place, and he didn’t like the picture they formed. The wild, static energy in the air was the feeling of a broken ward. And the man…

“Sabame? He’s the one who burned down the temple?” If the man’s mind had a monster’s poison upon it, it would explain his weak aura and dead eyes. The woman’s sorrowful gaze slid over to him and she nodded.

“All my life, I worked to protect those children. I was never able to do enough for them, but I kept trying. But one day, the temple was gone and so was my job, usurped by that man’s wife. And after that, I was here. Dead.”

“Wait,  _ you _ were Jishoni-san? The caretaker before Sabame took over?”

She nodded again, and this time a tear dripped down her cheek.

“Dororo told me about you. I think he misses you.”

Jishoni’s ghost sunk to her knees as the tears came faster.

“All I ever wanted,” she said, voice watery with the memory of blood and her new tears, “Was to help the children who came to me. And when it mattered, I couldn’t.”

Hyakkimaru sat down beside her and let her cry without any interruptions. Eventually the tears subsided. There were a few more pieces which Hyakkimaru needed to slot into place, but he thought he almost had the shape of the problem worked out in his head.

“You said Sabame’s wife stole your job?”

“He fired me so she could take over as lead caretaker. She swooped in one day and told me I was to leave.” Jishoni wrung her broken and battered hands together. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to the children.”

“And… you also said the monster poisoned Sabame’s mind.”

“Yes. I don't know if he can be saved. But if the monster is no longer near him, perhaps…”

“Okay.” He stood And dusted off his pants. The sun was setting. “Time to go kill a monster before Dororo does anything stupid enough to get himself killed.”

He held out a hand to help Jishoni stand. When she took it, the temperature sensors in his fingers registered freezing cold. He didn't flinch. 

“What is your name?” She asked, straightening to her full height.

“Jukai Hyakkimaru.”

“Stay safe, Hyakkimaru. I pray we will not meet again until it is your time to cross over.”

Between one blink and the next, she was gone. The child ghost had disappeared as well, leaving Hyakkimaru alone in the temple ruins. He closed his eyes against the waning light and began the trek back to the group home.

_ Dororo, be careful of Sabame. _ He sent the thought as clearly as he could through their mental link.  _ Whatever monster we're up against has poisoned his mind. He burned down the temple. _

The shock which raced back to Hyakkimaru was intense, but not unexpected.

_ That explains a lot of things, actually. He's acting super weird. Like a robot. _

_ I'm going to wait right outside the back for your signal. Let me know when you find anything. _ Hyakkimaru hesitated before tacking on an urgent  _ and be careful! _

_ Relax, aniki, I got this. I once broke into some guy's penthouse and stole the bone out from under his akita without anyone noticing. _

_ Somehow, that doesn't fill me with confidence in your common sense. _

Hyakkimaru cut off their connection when Dororo's mental giggles got too annoying. He'd have to trust that Dororo could watch out for his own safety.

 

* * *

 

 

Being back in the home was— well, to be honest, it was awful, but it wasn't as awful as Dororo had feared. The other kids stared at him with some combination of confusion and awe, and a few brave souls came up to ask him where he'd been. They scampered away at the look Sabame gave them before he could answer, of course, but it was a nice change from how they used to regard him.

And there was another problem; Sabame would not leave him alone. He stood in the doorway of the cafeteria as Dororo ate dinner— and he was sure even Hyakkimaru could have cooked something more appetizing— and didn’t let his gaze leave Dororo once.

“Dororo-kun, you’re back!”

Dororo glanced towards the voice and saw one of the few friendly faces in the entire group home looking at him with a large grin on his face. He straightened up and smiled back.

“Hey, Sukeroku. How are you?”

Sukeroku plopped down next to Dororo on the cafeteria table bench and grabbed his arm.

“We were so worried about you! Sabame-san said they were looking for you and the others, but we haven’t heard anything for so long!” He appeared, Dororo noted with some horror, as if he were about to cry.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I wanted a break from this place.” He tried to sound nonchalant, but Sukeroku frowned and shook his head.

“Dororo, more and more of us are going missing, and you’re the only one who has come back. What’s going on?” 

Dororo felt the smile fall off of his face and he looked back down at his cafeteria tray, pulling his arm from the other boy’s grasp.

“That’s why I came back, to figure out what’s happening. I…” he hesitated. “I’m helping someone. He needed a way to get information from the inside. Otherwise, I never would have come back here.”

Sukeroku stared down at his congealing potatoes and swallowed.

“It’s so creepy… sometimes at night, I can hear something in the halls. It sounds… I dunno. Slimy. Squishy.” He shuddered. “There are footsteps, too. And sometimes, in the morning, someone else will be missing.”

Sukeroku refused to say any more after that, and Sabame swooped in as soon as Dororo finished eating to drag him back to his old bedroom.

The bedroom he'd had to share with seven girls.

Ugh.

“Stay here,” Sabame commanded, pointing at the ugly linoleum floor. “I will send Mai in, and she will discuss with you what your punishment will be.”

He strode out of the room. Dororo stuck his tongue out at his back as he shut the door and—

“Did you just lock me in here!?” Dororo shrieked at the distinctive click. He ran over and tested the handle.

Yep. It was locked.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t break out, and he’d been planning on waiting and biding his time anyway, but it was the principle of the thing! He was Dororo, the world’s greatest thief, locked in like a common criminal. What a load of crap.

He sat down on the nearest bed and crossed his arms. What he needed was a game plan.  He would have to wait until night time and everyone was asleep to have the freedom to sneak around. Lights out was at nine PM, so that left him with almost three more hours to kill before he could actually wait for his chance to sneak out. And of course, he had to find where the monster was hiding. He still thought the storage shed out in the back courtyard was a good bet, but he would keep an eye out as he snuck through the halls to get there.

Hyakkimaru’s message caught him by surprise, and he was glad no one else was in the room to see him jump at the unexpected connection. The news that Sabame was under the monster’s control was certainly worth considering. It made it that much more important for him to get this done and leave tonight.

He was still mulling this over when the lock clicked again and a tall woman entered. She had long black hair, severe makeup, and wore an elegant business dress. Dororo recognized her as Sabame Mai, the director’s wife and the woman who had taken over when Sabame had fired Jishoni. She was cold and distant, and Dororo had always wondered why such a woman was in charge of taking care of dozens of children when she seemed to loathe them.

Mai shut the door behind her and approached the bed where Dororo sat. He met her gaze as steadily as he could. There was something about her eyes, as if they caught and hid the light instead of reflecting it. He clamped down on a shudder that tried to make its way up his spine. Mai studied him and smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes. He wondered if the monster had poisoned her mind as well.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Dororo-chan!” she clasped her hands together. Dororo fought to keep his face neutral instead of snarling at her. “We were all worried about you. You’re the first one to come back, but seeing you again gives me hope for the others.”

_ Don’t hope too hard, lady, _ he thought. He knew where the other kids were.

“However, as glad as I am to see you unharmed… mostly…” she took in his scabbed knees and the black eye still lingering on Dororo’s face, “I’m afraid you’re still in a lot of trouble for running away in the first place.”

She detailed all of the restrictions she planned to place on him now he was back under her care; no leaving the bedroom without an employee escort, no going outside except for school, and remedial evening classes to catch up on the school he’d missed. If he had any plans to obey her, Dororo might have been angry about all of this.

No, scratch that, he was still angry. He could keep the anger in check, however, because he had no plans on being here once dawn came.

“Do you understand? This is all for your own good, you know. We can’t have you getting hurt.” Mai reached out to run her fingers through Dororo’s bangs. He flinched away, unable to hold his composure. From the corner of his eye, he could have sworn her fingernails were sharp claws instead. He stared at her hand before looking back up at her eyes.

He may not have the ability to sense demons the way Hyakkimaru could, but he had long ago learned that listening to his instincts was the only way to survive, and every instinct in him screamed to get away from her.

“I said, do you understand?” Mai’s voice held none of the false warmth it had earlier. Dororo nodded.

She reached out and patted his head, and this time Dororo managed to hold still.

“Good girl. I’ll see you in the morning.”

As soon as Mai locked the door behind her, Dororo flopped over and screamed into the pillow. This place was hell!

By the time the other kids got back to the room, Dororo had moved onto his own bed and was rapidly flipping through plans in his head. The best option would be to sneak out the window, if he weren’t on the second storey of the building, so he would have to sneak through the halls. In that case, perhaps he should stop in Sabame’s office to look for any evidence… but what would he look for? And would such a detour make him more likely to be discovered? There was also the matter of the hallway noises Sukeroku had warned him about. He would have to take care to avoid attracting the attention of whatever was making those.

The girls greeted him politely. He could see the curiosity in their eyes as they prepared for bed, but he didn’t pay them much mind. They’d never gotten along with each other, and he didn’t owe them answers. Luckily none of them seemed to want to talk, and soon everyone was in bed and breathing deeply. He waited another ten minutes to be sure no one was still awake. No one stirred. He jumped off the bed and crouched under it, feeling at the space between the frame and the mattress. He almost gave up when his fingers brushed against the smooth plastic of a flashlight. He tucked it into the back pocket of his jean shorts and padded over to the door as quietly as he could, grabbing one of the girls’ bobby pins from her night stand on the way. The lock was almost laughably easy to pick. It gave way with a quiet click, and Dororo slipped out and closed the door behind him. His feet, clad in a soft pair of socks which he suspected weren’t actually hand-me-downs after all, made almost no noise on the smooth hallway floors.

The hallways were deserted and dark, only lit by the emergency exit signs and the occasional window. It was only now getting dark outside, but the shadows in the hallway were so deep that Dororo had no trouble slipping through them. He crept cautiously towards the back stairwell. It was less used and less exposed than the main stairway. He was tempted to hum the  _ Mission Impossible _ theme, but he didn't want to make any noise, so he settled for sending the song telepathically to Hyakkimaru. He made sure it was loud.

_ Dororo, what are you doing? _ Hyakkimaru didn't sound worried, but exasperated, so Dororo took it as a sign to keep going.

_ I'm sneaking out. I'm being sneaky. _ He glanced around a corner and, deciding it was clear, darted forward.  _ I gotta set the mood or it won't work. _

Hyakkimaru groaned over their connection and pointedly cut it off. Dororo snickered and continued creeping along.

He had almost reached the door to the stairwell when he heard the noise. It was a sort of flopping, squishing noise, like a fish on a dry floor. Curious, he crept closer to the source of the noise and peered around another corner into a smaller hallway. The noise seemed to be coming from further down. He crept forward with the softest footsteps he could manage and glanced around for the source.

The noise continued, growing as he moved forward. He thought he could hear a slight scraping noise under the squishing, and Dororo decided there was no way he was going to meet this thing unarmed. He backtracked a few yards to a supply cupboard. It was hard to decide what in there would be most effective against an unknown enemy, but it was hard to go wrong with throwing heavy things at whatever came at him. He selected a large metal measuring tape from the shelf— not as aerodynamic as a good rock, but it would do— and stuffed it into his pocket before following the mysterious sound again.

The noise was moving away from him, but he covered ground quickly. It was strange, though, that he couldn’t see what was making the noise. He rounded another corner after a wary look, but nothing moved. The noise was so close, though!

Something… dripped, onto Dororo’s head. He instinctively put a hand in the foreign substance, and it came away covered in something white… and sticky… and fibrous…

He barely kept the shriek from escaping his throat as he jumped backwards and stared up at the ceiling. Directly above where he’d been standing, there was a giant caterpillar making its way anong the ceiling on multiple pairs of stubby legs.

_ Aniki! _ He mentally shouted.  _ There’s a caterpillar longer than you on the ceiling! It pooped silk onto me! _

The thing was disgusting. It had little claws on each leg which made the distinctive  _ scritch scritch _ noise he’d heard earlier. As it inched along, the squishing of its fat body caused it to slap against the ceiling. Dororo kind of wanted to throw up.

_ A caterpillar? The monster is a caterpillar? _ Hyakkimaru’s incredulous words broke through his rising panic

_ Looks like it! _ This monster was responsible for the deaths of eleven kids. A white-hot anger bubbled up in Dororo’s chest and made him forget his earlier caution.  _ Take this, you ugly piece of shit! _

_ Dororo, no! _

Dororo ignored Hyakkimaru’s warning and wound his arm back. With all the strength he could put into it, he lobbed the heavy measuring tape at the creature. It screamed in a high-pitched voice which made his teeth itch and fell off of the ceiling. The creature managed to roll onto its legs and took off down the hallway at a much faster pace than it had— faster than Dororo could match.

_ Aniki, it got away! _

_ Damn it, Dororo! What were you thinking? _ Hyakkimaru sounded irate.  _ You idiot! Now it knows you’re there! _

Dororo flinched and instinctively drew away from their mental connection. He hadn’t been thinking. He’d simply been so disgusted and angry that it had been instinct to hit the creature.

Well, it was time to return to the original plan. If this thing had been lurking around the facility, he would be willing to bet the storage shed was its lair. He threw caution to the wind and darted back to the stairwell door, wrenching open the door and taking them two at a time. There was a side door in the stairwell leading directly outside, and the lock came undone under his hands as easily as the bedroom door had.

He proceeded with more of his earlier caution as he crept through the late summer twilight. The droning of crickets drowned out the sounds of his socks in the grass, and his panting from the run down the stairs leveled out quickly. The door had let him out on the side of the building, so he hugged the side of the building as he tiptoed towards the back courtyard. The outdated playground equipment was an eerie silhouette in the dusk lighting, long shadows stretching across to where the old shed loomed.

The shed seemed larger like this, in the gloom. As Dororo approached he wondered how he should enter. There was the padlocked door— not a real obstacle, but entering through the front of any building was risky. He knew there was a small window in back, and maybe he could fit through it. As he crept closer to the shed, however, he could see that one of the aluminum panels on the roof was askew, revealing a hole beneath. He grinned in triumph. So the monster had an entrance all its own, did it? He may as well use it too.

Dororo shimmied up the tree next to the shed and, conscious of how the aluminum would make his footsteps echo, gently lowered himself onto the roof. Scooting along on his butt seemed to be the least noisy way to move, and soon he made it to the misplaced panel and the hole it failed to cover. It was dark inside when he peered in. Well, nothing for it. The hole was wide enough for his small frame to fit through, so he swung his legs over the edge and jumped down.

He landed in a heap. In his mind, he had executed a perfect aerial somersault and stuck the landing with a roll, but in reality he landed in a squishy pile of… something. It was dry and leathery beneath his hands when he levered himself up.

“What is this?” he whispered. He swiveled his head around, but couldn’t see anything with so little light. If the monster was around, it made no sound. Deciding it was worth the risk to have a look around, he pulled out his flashlight and flicked on the beam.

He immediately wished he hadn’t.

He sat atop a pile of what he was pretty sure was human skin. He clapped a hand over his mouth and stifled a scream as he stumbled backwards, climbing on top of a box to get away from it. Some of the skin had hair attached. Some had freckles. Some was so old and dried it looked more like rawhide, and he had the insane thought that it was a good thing Nota wasn’t there to chew on it.

Surrendering to morbid curiosity, he swept the flashlight beam around the room. A few feet away there was a pile of fabric. Nearby that was a small group of translucent orbs. He crept closer to look at the latter, drawn in by their shine. They were pale green and about the size of a dodgeball. He picked one up and shone the flashlight on top and behind it. Something within wriggled, and he dropped it. The orb shattered, splashing his feet with foul green liquid. The wriggling thing flopped around a few times before it went still. Dororo crouched to inspect it.

It was a caterpillar. It was much smaller than the one he’d seen in the hallway, but now it had uncurled it was as long as Dororo’s forearm.

“Monster eggs?” he whispered. Did that mean there were more caterpillar monsters lurking around? He almost thought about warning Hyakkimaru, but he remembered how angry the older boy had been when he’d injured the monster. Surely he’d be angrier at Dororo for coming in here alone, if he told him. Best to keep quiet.

He turned to inspect the fabric beside the eggs and felt his blood run cold.

He knew that dress, sticking out from the bottom of the pile.

He pulled it out from below the pile of discarded children’s clothing. It was the long indigo dress which Jishoni-san had worn many times. She had worn it the first day he’d come to this awful place, which had been less awful then but still a jarring departure from living on the streets with his mother. She had been wearing it the day he’d finally let her hug him and he’d told her about his mother, how she had frozen to death as she tried to keep him warm.

There was dried blood staining the front.

She had died in this dress.

He bit his lip hard and scrubbed at his eyes with his forearm. Now was not the time. He carefully folded the dress and set it aside so he could look at the rest of the clothing. It must be the clothing of the disappeared children, because what else could it be?

Behind the pile of clothing lay twelve white skulls— one adult sized and the rest ranging from smaller than his own to nearly full grown. Other bones lay scattered about in a haphazard pile.

Too late, he heard the door creaking open and the footsteps behind him. Dororo whirled to face the attacker, but they grabbed him with a hand around his mouth before he could scream.

He didn’t have the presence of mind to call out to Hyakkimaru for help, because his attacker quickly bound him in a tight cocoon of silk, leaving only his head exposed. The hand came away from his face and he found that he was suspended above the floor, face to face with Sabame Mai. Dororo tried to open his mouth to yell at her, but there was silk over that as well. He settled for growling at her.

“So you’re the one who hurt my child tonight!” she cooed, reaching out a finger— definitely clawed this time— to stroke over his cheek. He struggled, trying to pull away from her touch. “You humans and your insistence on meddling. Jishoni meddled as well, and you know what? I enjoyed tearing her apart.”

Dororo thrashed, trying to break free and get at her, but the webbing held. He worked his jaw and attempted to bite the silk holding his mouth shut.

“I thought this place would be perfect to raise and feed my child, but there’s always something getting in the way. First there was the ward in that temple, and afterwards that poor, stupid woman tried to snoop around. And now you.” As she spoke, Dororo noticed she carried a child on her hip. He’d never seen the kid before, but their hair was the same pale cornsilk as the hair on the scraps of skin. His eyes widened as they darted between the pile and the toddler.

Mai noticed when he connected the dots and smirked.

“Yes, my child sheds his skin when he grows, and to grow, he needs fresh meat. And what better source than a building full of children whom no one will miss?”

Dororo managed to work his mouth free of the silk covering it and spat in her face.

“Aniki is going to come and kill you, and your cannibal baby too.”

Mai laughed at him.

“You don’t have a brother, you stupid child. You don’t have anyone. I am going to feed you to my child, which is a greater purpose than you would have ever had if you lived out your pathetic, lonely life.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dororo fought to keep the tears of frustration at bay. “Hyakkimaru kills demons like you all the time, and he’ll come back for me.”

Mai set down the child and stepped back. Her form shifted and swelled as she did. Soon she had a mane of thick white hair, protruding fangs, and large feathery antennae sprouting from her brow. Her clothing had morphed into a furisode patterned to look like moth wings with eye spots staring straight at Dororo. He struggled harder, and the silk holding him up began to give.

“I am the Maimai-Onba! I will not be killed by a mortal so easily. This Hyakkimaru of yours will be too late to save you, if he comes at all.” She held up a hand and patted his cheek in condescension. He flinched as one claw got dangerously close to his eye. Working some moisture back into his dry mouth, he spit in her face again. This time it landed right on her nose.

Maimai-onba shrieked in rage. She lashed out and raked her claws against the cocoon, sending Dororo onto the ground with a hard thump. The movement of her arm sent her long sleeve swinging and a fine powder sifted through the air, making him cough and grow dizzy. He struggled to his feet and came face to face with the caterpillar from before. It tackled him.

“You may as well stop struggling,” Maimai-Onba told him, voice back to being utterly calm. “You’ll never escape from his claws, and no one is coming to save you. You’ll be so much more useful as a meal than as the burden you currently are.”

Tears pricked in the corners of Dororo’s eyes, both from the caterpillar’s claws and from the demon’s words.

Maybe Hyakkimaru wouldn’t come in time. He’d been so angry earlier. Maybe he would kill the monsters and leave Dororo to his fate. Dororo tried to call out to him, although he was too dizzy to know if he used his voice or his mind. He had no idea if he’d called out at all.

Right when the struggle began to grow too much for him, something pulled the caterpillar off of him and tossed it aside. He blearily glanced up into the face of the child ghost. It pointed, and when Dororo turned his head he saw Hyakkimaru, swords out and fighting Maimai-onba.

He let his head fall back and stopped struggling as tears of relief dripped down his face.

 

* * *

 

Hyakkimaru had been leaning against a tree near the building when Dororo’s panicked message about the caterpillar reached him. It was hard to understand what was happening, but it was clear from Dororo’s words when he attacked the creature, and Hyakkimaru called out to stop him. It didn’t work, and he scolded the boy for being so reckless. What if he’d been hurt?

Worry for Dororo’s safety kept him from waiting any longer, and he raced towards the fence and began to search for a way in, but his lack of eyesight in the twilight made it so much harder to find anything. The fence was tall and there was nothing to climb on, nor any holes large enough for him. He did a complete circuit before he cried out in frustration. The emotions coming from Dororo grew in their distress, and he had to get to him, he had to! He ran back to the front gate and tried to undo the latch.

“Let me in!” Hyakkimaru shouted, giving up and banging on the gate in frustration. It didn’t open.

“Me… help…”

Hyakkimaru whirled to find Jishoni’s ward standing behind him, its layered and tangled soul flame unmistakable. Before he could say anything, it grabbed his torso and jumped over the fence, carrying him towards the shed. When it dropped him he stumbled for a step before running as fast as he could towards the shed in the back. The ghost kept pace with him easily, and in fact beat him to the door.

A burst of panic came through the connection, and when he followed the child ghost into the shed he saw why. Two monstrous demonic auras occupied the space, and one of them had Dororo’s struggling soul flame pinned. Hyakkimaru pulled off his forearms and dove in to fight the larger monster as soon as he saw the ghost pull the smaller one from Dororo.

“You insolent brat!” The demon shrieked at him, swiping at him with her claws. He leaped back out into the open, hoping to draw her from the confined space. She followed and tried to grab at him. He managed to dodge and caught her arm with his left blade. She leaped back and hissed. A loud flapping sound signalled that she had taken flight, and Hyakkimaru readied himself for her strike. Her soul flame was difficult to follow as she swooped and dodged, and she managed to catch him across the shoulder with her claws on a dive. He grunted and lashed out, nicking her wing, but it wasn’t enough to bring her down.

“No one will defeat me! I will restore the Maimai-ga clan to its former glory and—”

Her words cut off as a bright light flashed, illuminating the area and allowing Hyakkimaru to see the monster above him. She shielded her eyes and cried out.

“You! How are you here?”

Beside Hyakkimaru, the child ghost glowed, split apart, and sent orbs of light flying at the demon.

_ We’ll hold her down for you! _ A voice called to him.

_ Finish her off! _ Called another. They dragged the struggling demon closer and closer to the ground.

“No! I am Maimai-onba, first and most powerful of my clan!”

The glow faded as the ghosts dragged her low enough. Hyakkimaru lunged forward and plunged both swords into the monster. She choked, gurgled, and fell limp.

Hyakkimaru let her fall from the blades as the ghosts of the children she’d killed released her body. She hadn't even hit the ground when Hyakkimaru raced back into the shed to where Dororo lay, soul flame flickering and weak. A lit flashlight had fallen on the floor and illuminated the room enough that Hyakkimaru could see the scratches forming on Dororo’s arms and under his ripped shirt. Nearby, the caterpillar monster thrashed and wiggled, torn up but not dead. Hyakkimaru sunk both blades into it for good measure, but didn’t bother to watch it die as he hurried to Dororo’s side.

“Dororo! Dororo, are you okay?” Hyakkimaru fell onto his knees beside the boy. He didn’t register the ghosts helping to slide his forearms back on until he had already reached forward to gather Dororo up into a tight hug. “Dororo, I was so worried. Don’t scare me like that!”

“You—” Dororo cleared his throat, voice watery. “—You aren’t mad at me?”

Hyakkimaru hugged him tighter.

“I’m furious. I thought I would lose you. What would I do without my little brother?”

Dororo burst into tears, clutching at Hyakkimaru’s back and wailing.

“She said— she said you— you wouldn’t come back!” he hiccuped, trying to talk between gasping breaths. Hyakkimaru ran a hand along his back and breathed deeply, hoping Dororo would match the rhythm. “She said I’m a— a burden. She— she said you wouldn’t save me.”

“I tried to get in here the moment you told me about the caterpillar. I’m sorry it took me so long to get over the fence.”

Dororo snorted, and his breathing began to even out. He didn’t loosen his hold on Hyakkimaru at all, however.

“Knew I shoulda shown you my secret exit…”

Hyakkimaru wasn’t sure how long they sat there in that position before he noticed the same glow from before. He and Dororo both turned their heads towards it. Standing before them were twelve ghosts, all smiling.

“Thank you for freeing our souls,” a little girl said. “We joined together to try to fight the monster, but we still weren’t strong enough.”

“But now, you killed the mother and her kid, and no one else will get eaten!” a teenage boy pumped a fist into the air and the others cheered.

Jishoni stepped forward and knelt beside them. Her face was healed, and she smiled without any trace of sorrow in her eyes.

“Thank you for coming back, Dororo. And thank you, Hyakkimaru, for your help. I can rest now, knowing the kids are safer.”

“Thank you, Jishoni-san. Good luck in your next lives, all of you.” Hyakkimaru nodded at them. They all bowed gratefully, and the children ran out the door one by one, laughing the whole time. Jishoni moved to stand up, but Dororo’s hand shot out to grab her wrist and stop her.

“Wait, Jishoni-san,” he said. She met his eyes and placed her hand over his. “Thank you. I— I’ll miss you.”

Jishoni gave Dororo a tender smile. She leaned forward, pressed a kiss to his forehead, and stood. Dororo’s hand slipped from her wrist as she followed the children. The glow faded, but Dororo’s soul flame was bright again. The boy shifted in Hyakkimaru’s arms to a more comfortable sitting position.

“Aniki, there’s still a bunch of eggs over there.” Dororo gestured vaguely. “And everyone’s bones are in here too.”

Hyakkimaru glanced over at the clutch of eggs, barely shining in the flashlight’s glow and their own weak red soul flames. He shuddered in disgust. They couldn’t allow those to hatch.

“We also need to get rid of the monsters’ bodies.” He thought about the best course of action and decided they may as well take the most thorough route. “We’ll have to burn down the shed with everything in it.”

“Wait, what?” Dororo pulled back to look at him. “Are you serious?”

“We can’t leave the body of a demon laying around, and the kids and Jishoni-san deserve a proper cremation. This is the best we can do.”

Dororo tried to stand, wobbled, and fell right back onto Hyakkimaru.

“Are you okay?” Hyakkimaru asked, pulling the boy back down. Dororo groaned and clutched at his head.

“Yeah, yeah, ‘m fine.” he mumbled. “She hit me with this… dust, or something, and it made me dizzy.”

Hyakkimaru gathered Dororo closer, standing and placing the boy on his left hip. He wrapped his limbs around Hyakkimaru as he grumbled about not needing to be carried.

“Hold this,” Hyakkimaru said, holding up his right forearm. Dororo pulled it off and held it as he methodically sliced open each egg, not paying any mind to the fluid dripping all over his boots. It was disgusting, but he felt better seeing each moth embryo stop squirming and die.

“What is the meaning of this?” a voice demanded behind them as a much brighter light filled the shed. Hyakkimaru turned and had to hold up his sword to shield his eyes as the beam of a flashlight nearly blinded him. The light illuminated the evidence of the creature which had lived here, and he heard the newcomer’s sharp intake of breath.

“Oh great, it’s Sabame. Do we have to kill him, too?” Dororo muttered. Hyakkimaru shook his head and held out his sword for Dororo to slide his forearm back on.

“I don’t kill humans, Dororo.”

“What are you two doing in here?” Sabame demanded. “And what is going on?”

Sabame sounded genuinely confused, which seemed like a good sign if he was recovering from Maimai-Onba’s spell.

“Your wife was a demon, and her child has been eating the children here for months.” Hyakkimaru gestured at the pile of bones and the dead caterpillar. “She put a spell on you and made you burn down the temple. Do you remember that?”

The flashlight beam swept over the contents of the room, and with it no longer directly in his face Hyakkimaru could make out the horrified expression on Sabame’s face. He went a little green when he spotted the smashed eggs and their dead larvae.

“Mai was… and I…” he staggered back and leaned against the wall. “Oh god. I… I burned down the temple. What have I done?” he clutched at his head with his free hand and groaned. He didn’t seem to be a threat, so Hyakkimaru took a few steps towards him, crossing the distance in the small shed.

“We have to burn down this shed with the monster’s body and everything else in here, unless you want to deal with restless spirits and police questions you can’t answer. What did you use to burn down the temple?”

“I… I used cooking oil from the kitchen.” Sabame gulped and met Hyakkimaru’s gaze with wide, guilty eyes. “How could I have done that?”

“Demons can make people do wicked things, especially if they don’t know their mind has been poisoned. Did you know she was a demon?”

“No!” the man straightened. “I had no idea. But I loved her, and I thought she returned it. Was that all part of her magic too?”

Hyakkimaru wanted to lie to him, to tell him, yes, it was all a spell, but he couldn’t. He shook his head.

“I’ve never met a monster who can force you to feel things you don’t already. Her love may not have been real, or maybe it was. But I think it was real for you.”

Sabame made a keening sound and let his head thunk back onto the wooden doorframe. Hyakkimaru let him have a moment and glanced down to see why Dororo was so silent. The boy had his head on Hyakkimaru’s shoulders, eyes slitted and watching Sabame with a mixture of pity and anger. When he noticed the older boy’s gaze, he tilted his head up and made a small questioning hum.

“Still dizzy?” Hyakkimaru asked. Dororo nodded.

“What’s gonna happen to him?” he asked, jerking his chin at Sabame.

“He’ll probably have a migraine for a few days. Regaining your humanity isn’t an easy task, I would guess.”

Sabame came out of whatever introspection he’d been lost in and nodded decisively.

“Very well,” he said. “I will go get the oil and matches, if you will bring the body into the shed.”

It was simple enough to set up. Hyakkimaru set Dororo down against the fence a few meters away and gave him strict orders not to try and stand yet. Dororo put up a token protest, but something about Hyakkimaru’s expression must have betrayed exactly how worried he had been, because he subsided quickly. Within a quarter hour, they had Maimai-onba’s body in the shed and Hyakkimaru held a lit match to the pool of cooking oil sabame had spread on the floor. It flared to life and he backed up, watching as the dry wood of the structure caught alight. The tree next to the shed was an unfortunate casualty of the pyre, but nothing else was close enough for the fire to catch. The shed burned hot and the flames climbed high above the treetop, swallowing the evidence of the monster. Hyakkimaru tilted his head to look at Sabame, illuminated in the firelight.

“Your eyes already look more human,” he commented. Sabame quirked an eyebrow at him, too tired to be offended.

“Did they not, before?”

“No. They had no soul before. Like a dead fish.”

Sabame huffed and crossed his arms, turning back to the bonfire.

“You ought to leave before the fire department arrives,” he said after a pause. “Thank you, by the way. I… I can’t make up for what happened. But I will try.”

Hyakkimaru studied him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the slip of paper his dad had handed him earlier.

“If you want to start now, you can help me get these for my father.” he handed over the slip, and Sabame’s eyes widened when he read it.

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. Also,” he jerked his head towards where Dororo had fallen asleep against the fence, “I’m taking him home with me. Don’t try to stop me.”

Sabame pursed his lips, but nodded.

“I understand. I owe you a great deal more than this. Follow me, and I will grab these for you.”

Hyakkimaru walked over to Dororo and crouched in front of him, shaking his shoulder gently.

“Dororo, it’s time to go,” he murmured. Dororo came awake with a small snort and blinked at him.

“Aniki?”

“Climb on my back, and you can go back to sleep.”

Dororo did as he was asked without any hesitation, and soon Hyakkimaru followed Sabame into the building with a sleeping Dororo on his back. The man led him to an office with a large wooden desk. He waited as Sabame rifled through a file cabinet behind it. It took a few minutes for him to gather everything, but he returned to Hyakkimaru with a small sheaf of papers and a manilla folder, which helpfully tucked under one of Hyakkimaru’s arms.

“I hope you know this isn’t exactly legal, the way you’re going about this,” Sabame told him with a resigned smile on his face.

“It wouldn’t be the first time for Dad, honestly. That’s how he got me.”

Sabame tilted his head in understanding and led him back to the front door. The sound of sirens was barely audible, but it was coming closer.

“I’ll open the gates for you,” Sabame said. “Make sure you're out of sight before the fire department sees you.”

“Thank you. Good luck with… all this.”

Dororo let out a noisy snore. The trek back to the bus stop was dark and subdued, but there was a sense of relief which made Hyakkimaru’s steps feel lighter. Paradoxically, having Dororo’s weight on his back had the same effect. Trying to pay the bus fare was an adventure in maneuvering his wallet from his pocket without dropping the papers or Dororo until the bus driver took pity on him and waved him off.

“I remember having to carry my little siblings like that, too. Just get on and get him home safely.”

Hyakkimaru gave him a grateful smile and didn’t argue.

It was only a quarter to eleven when he opened the front door, but it felt so much later after all the chaos of the evening. Nota rushed over to greet them, panting happily, and Hyakkimaru kicked the door closed with a fond smile at the dog.

“We’re home,” he told the puppy. He set the papers down on the kitchen table, locked the door, and headed for the guest room. He realized, as he pulled Dororo’s filthy socks off, that he’d forgotten the boy’s shoes. Well, it could wait. He quickly treated the scratches on both of them, removed Dororo’s torn shirt, and put him in a pajama shirt like the one he’d worn the night before. Dororo remained blissfully asleep the entire time. Hyakkimaru suspected that whatever dust the monster had hit him with was a sedative, intended to make prey more docile. There was nothing wrong with the boy’s pulse or breathing, though, so he didn’t think there was cause to worry. He pulled the blankets up around Dororo’s shoulders, smiling when he snuggled deeper.

He left for his own bedroom and quickly changed into his own pajamas. He was about to crawl into bed when he heard Nota whimpering. When he poked his head back into the guest room, he saw Dororo curled in a tight ball, a distressed expression on his face. Nota nosed at him and whimpered again.

Well, it looked like he was sleeping in here tonight.

Hyakkimaru lifted the corner of the blankets and slid under them. It was a tight fit with  Dororo in the center of the bed, but it was manageable. Dororo latched onto Hyakkimaru immediately, uncurling and instead snuggling into him like a koala. Nota, satisfied his owner wasn’t in distress anymore, curled up on Dororo’s other side and settled down with a sight which was much too large for such a small dog.

Hyakkimaru pulled the external processors from his head, placed them on the nightstand, and switched off the light. He was asleep within minutes.

 

* * *

 

Dororo woke up feeling like a bicycle had run him over; not too awful, but definitely worse for the wear. He groaned and rubbed at his eyes. This bed… didn’t feel like the one at the group home, but that was the last place he remembered being. He’d been outside, watching the fire… Hyakkimaru had put him on his back… what had happened afterwards?

A cold, wet nose to his collarbone made him yelp and jerk away, nearly falling off the bed in the process. His eyes flew open and he flailed, tangling his limbs in the blankets. Nota watched him intently, panting happily and wagging his tail. Dororo stared. Nota was here? Where was he?

He sat up on the bed and recognized the guest room he’d stayed in since last Friday night. Why was he here again? He’d gone back to the group home, and Hyakkimaru had finished off the demon. How did he get here? He noticed that, once again, he wore one of Hyakkimaru’s old pajama shirts, although he still wore the same jean shorts from the day before. The scratches from the caterpillar’s claws now had fresh bandages covering them. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand and almost screamed. How had he slept until a quarter of noon?

Picking up Nota, he slid out of the bed and padded on bare feet to the bedroom door. The hallway was deserted, but when he got to the kitchen he noticed Jukai sitting at the table, nursing a cup of tea and filling out some sort of paperwork. Probably doctor stuff, Dororo guessed.

“Um… good morning!” Dororo wasn’t sure what was going on, but he might as well find out. Jukai’s head lifted from his papers and he smiled.

“Good morning! How do you feel?” he leaned forward and studied Dororo, who shifted nervousLY. “The monster drugged you with something yesterday. You didn’t seem to be having a reaction, so I thought it best to let you sleep it off. If you don’t feel well, though, you need to tell me.”

“No, I’m fine, just a little headache.” Dororo set Nota on the floor, who ran over to Jukai and began begging for scratches.

“You’re probably a little dehydrated.” Jukai stood after giving the dog a pat. “Sit down, and I’ll bring you some tea and soup. That’ll fix you right up.”

The large man hurried into the kitchen, so Dororo sat in the chair next to his. Curiosity got the best of him and he looked over at Jukai's paperwork, but there were so many kanji he didn’t recognize that he gave up snooping and pulled Nota into his lap instead.

“Where’s aniki?” He asked, craning his head slightly to see Jukai over the kitchen counter.

“He’s at school. I told him I’d call him in sick if he needed more sleep, but he refused. He said he wanted to tell Mio about what you two discovered.” Jukai’s voice was light and amused.

“He’d willingly suffer through school to see his not-yet-girlfriend?” Dororo asked. “Why aren’t they dating already?

Jukai laughed and walked over to set a large mug of tea in front of Dororo. He grabbed it and drank a large gulp, not caring about the heat. His throat was parched, although he hadn’t noticed before.

“You know, I ask myself that question a lot.” Jukai sat back down and picked up his pen.

“Is that something for work?” Dororo asked, watching as he wrote with quick strokes. Jukai shook his head and rotated the paper so Dororo could see it more easily.

“No, see?” he tapped the header of the document with the back end of the pen. Dororo sagged.

“Oh, well, I— I can’t read kanji very well…”

Jukai raised an eyebrow, but he nodded.

“Okay. We can work on rhat,” he said, though it sounded like he was talking to himself. Dororo wanted to ask him what on earth he meant, but Jukai continued before he could. “See, this right here… this entire stack… is adoption paperwork.”

Dororo felt his eyes widen as they darted between the stack of papers and Jukai’s soft expression.

“You— you mean—” he swallowed.

“Only if you want. It would involve being taken off your current family registry and placed onto mine, which I know you might not want. I also have a separate stack I could fill out if you only wanted me to foster you, although that gives you less legal protection.”

Dororo cleared his throat, trying to speak past the lump forming in it.

“You… you want me to be part of your family?” His voice may have squeaked a little bit. “You barely know me!”

“Yes, but I want to get to know you. Hyakkimaru already cares a lot about you, and he doesn’t trust easily. You seem like a good kid, if one ignores the thieving part.” Jukai laughed kindly at Dororo’s sheepish expression. “Also, I think Hyakkimaru would find a way to do it himself if I don’t, so I may as well save us all the trouble.”

Dororo stared at the paper on the table. Part of him rebelled at the idea of being tied down in such a manner, of giving up his family name— the last thing he had of his parents. He didn’t want to forget them, to have them be a footnote in his life.

Another part of him, the part of him he’d tamped down as hard as he could, the part which was desperate for human affection, wanted to know what he was waiting for.  _ Answer yes. You can have a family. You won’t get another chance. _

“I… can I think about it?” he asked. Jukai patted him on the shoulder.

“Take all the time you need. It’s not an offer that’ll expire.”

He stood up and went back into the kitchen, leaving Dororo to sip his tea. Nota seemed to pick up on his indecision, because he reared up, put his paws on Dororo’s chest, and began licking his face with fervor. Dororo laughed and tried to push the squirming puppy away. Nota wasn’t having it.

Jukai came back with a large bowl of udon in miso broth, set it in front of Dororo, and picked up Nota. He set the dog on the ground with a murmured “no dogs at the table when there’s food, Nota, we’ve been over this.” Dororo laughed again at the lage bear of a man talking to a puppy the same way he would talk to a human. It was exactly how gentle he’d been each time Dororo had seen him hug Hyakkimaru. Dororo remembered how Jukai hugged him the day before and told him in no uncertain terms that he was welcome back. He wondered what it would be like to have that in his life every day.

He thought about how worried and upset Hyakkimaru had been last night, how he was only angry because he didn’t want Dororo to be injured. Hyakkimaru had called Dororo his little brother. Hyakkimaru  _ understood him _ , as much as anyone can understand another person after three days.

He chewed his noodles thoughtfully.

“I have a veterinarian appointment for Nota in an hour. Would you like to come?” Jukai snapped Dororo out of his thoughts, and Dororo cocked his head. “He is technically your dog, isn’t he?”

Dororo smiled, and he could imagine it was probably all dumb and sappy, and he  _ didn’t care. _

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I want to.”

Jukai nodded, understanding that his words were, possibly, the answer to more than one question.

Hours later, when Hyakkimaru got home from school, Dororo ran up to him and tackled him before he’d had a chance to remove his shoes.

“Hey, Aniki! Welcome back!”

Hyakkimaru reached down and roughly tousled Dororo’s hair, and he could hear the smile in his voice when he replied “I’m back, Otōto.”

**Author's Note:**

> To skip the incidents mentioned in the CW, please skip the conversation where Sabame first speaks to Hyakkimaru and Dororo, and the conversation where Mai speaks to Dororo alone in his room.
> 
> Jukai doesn't have a canon given name, so I chose 匠 (Takumi) which, according to [this](http://www.behindthename.com/name/takumi), means "Artisan". seems fitting.


End file.
